


All According to Plan

by LaLlorona



Category: Monster Prom (Visual Novel)
Genre: Drama, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, It’s basically Toradora, Liam has anxiety, M/M, Minor Violence, Oz is a sarcastic shit, Plans, Prom, Swearing, Weed, minor gore, there’s also like one sort of sex joke now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-02
Updated: 2018-11-22
Packaged: 2019-05-17 09:02:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 47,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14829330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaLlorona/pseuds/LaLlorona
Summary: For years Vicky has been trying, and failing, to win over Polly’s heart. Liam seems to have a similar problem with a certain demon. With prom right around the corner Vicky grows desperate. She strikes a deal with the vampire, and the two help each out serving as wingmen. Seems simple enough. That is until Vicky develops feelings for her partner.





	1. Bees Buzzing on Cocaine

**Author's Note:**

> Right so this is my first fic, so go easy on me. I just had this idea, and I just needed to turn it into a story.

Vicky wakes up with this obnoxious pounding in her head. She remembers nothing from the night before. All she can recall was loud music, people dancing,and a couple of drinks, well clearly more than just a couple. She must have been at a party. Why would she even go to one on a school night? The poor girl can’t really concentrate with her head still pounding away. It sounds like it’s coming from outside.

“Come on Vicky we’re already late!” Oh it seems like the pounding really was coming from outside. With a groan, Vicky shuffles over to the door and opens it only to see Oz impatiently tapping their foot, 

“Seriously Vic, Amira and Brian already left and-,” they stop and takes one good look at their friend. She has messy hair, dirty clothes from last night mixed with some stains, she smells terrible, and she’s even missing her hand, “Jesus Vic, you really did a number on yourself!” They run their hand through their hair looking even more worried than they did not five seconds ago. 

“Thanks,” she answered back not really listening, “so what even happened?”

Oz sighs, “Right, of course you wouldn’t remember. So Polly threw one of her usual parties. We crashed it, and by we I mean you forced me to go with you, and you tried to impress her by drinking all of the alcohol, playing beer pong against a god of death, losing to that god, and nearly getting us killed because you betted our lives on that game.”

“Seriously?” She looked surprised. Then again she really shouldn’t. It’s not the first time she nearly killed her friends, usually Oz, just to win over a girl, “Oh god I’m really sorry!”

“No it’s fine. Look I’ll help you get ready and we can just head to school during lunch.” Vicky simply nods not really having the energy to answer. 

The morning goes by in a blur. It was a struggle for Oz considering they were practically carrying their friend room to room getting ready for her. Eventually Vicky finally manages to put herself together again...literally...she found her arm. By the time she actually sobers up it’s nearly lunchtime. No longer being in a hurry, Oz finds both of their backpacks, and the head out of the apartment. Not even two steps out the building and these two are already knee deep in a conversation, “I just don’t get why you go through these crazy schemes just to get Polly to notice you. Why don’t you, I don’t know, just talk to her,” Oz questions.

“It’s just not that simple. I just get really nervous near her. I can’t even look at her without blushing like crazy! It’s like the little bees in my stomach are buzzing on cocaine and Polly is that cocaine!”

“Lovely description,” they said clearly sarcastically.

“Thanks,” she answered back with genuine delight, “but seriously talking to a crush is just not easy. You wouldn’t know cause you don’t like anyone.” She pats their head as Oz rolls their eyes, “Well excuse me for trying to be reasonable.” 

The rest of the walk was mainly Vicky pestering Oz and asking about their nonexistent love life. Surely they must like someone, right? After all high school is all about the romance and drama that happens with the students rather than building up skills and knowledge to use for adult life. But alas no matter how many times she asks she’s met with the same reply, “Stop talking.” Of course she doesn’t listen to them and continues with the pestering up until they get to the building. 

When they walk in the bell for lunch rings, so they go straight to the cafeteria. They both get food and walk to their usual spot only to see the table empty. Oz sighs, “I guess Brian and Amira skipped school again.” They don’t get a response from Vicky. They turn to see her staring at the numerous posters promoting the monster prom. The shadow monster walks over and looks at the date, “Just three weeks away.”

“Yep.”

“What a perfect time to ask someone you like to go with…hint hint.”

“...Yep.”

Oz starts getting annoyed, “I’m not liking quiet Vicky. She scares me.”

She turns to him looking confused, “Wait why?”

“Because it means she’s plotting something.”

“Pfft oh Oz, of course I’m plotting something!” She finally sits down at their table with Oz following, “Alright, you might as well tell me cause I know you’re going to drag me into this.” Vicky smiles as she takes a marker out of her pocket. She dramatically pushes her food out of the way. It nearly falls to the ground, but Oz catches it in time. As she begins to doodle on the table, with permanent marker mind you, she starts explaining her plan, “Ok so we throw this huge fake part. We’ll hire a bunch of actors to play as the guests. It’s going to be one hell of a bop alright. I’m talking loud ear bleeding music, alcohol that can kill you in one sip, drugs that make you think you’re seeing every equation, ya know all the stuff Polly likes that’ll convince her to go. All the ‘party guests’ will talk me up. They’ll be all like, ‘Vicky is such a fun girl to be around! She’s cool, pretty, smart, reads Russian literature for fun,’ and then-”

Oz raises their hand to stop her, “No stop, you already lost me at fake party. Vicky that’s just ridiculous! We are not going to throw this huge party just to have people work as your wingmen! You could literally just ask anyone to do that for you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean have someone who’s close to her talk good about you. I’m sure she’ll start getting interested once a friend of hers keeps saying how much of a fun person you are.”

Vicky suddenly stands and grabs her friend’s shoulders pulling them close,“Oz you’re a genius,” however she sits back down, “Oh wait, I don’t know anyone that’s friends with Polly.”

“Well there has to be someone who could help. Let’s see,“ Oz scans the room looking for the table where the ghost girl sits. They spots her as well as some other familiar faces, “Ok what about Vera. She and Polly seem really close.”

“Nah, she’ll make me pay my entire life savings. Something I don’t even have.”

“Fairpoint, what about Damien? Don’t you two hangout sometimes?”

“Mainly with Amira, and those two are usually off burning buildings while I go get coffee. Also he scares me.”

“Ok, oh what about Liam?”

She leans in trying to look at who Oz is pointing at, “Who’s Liam?” She finds a purple vampire who seems to be too busy on his phone to actually engage with the others, “I don’t know. He doesn’t really seem like the helpful type.”

“You’d be surprised. He’s actually fairly nice once you dive through his grumpy facade filled with irony and sarcasm.”

“Daw, he sounds like a purple version of you!” She gives Oz a silly smile only to be met with their usual annoyed look, “Seriously Vicky, you have been trying, and failing, to get Polly’s attention for three years. In all honesty she probably doesn’t even know you exist! I think getting Liam’s help might be your best bet. Especially if you want to take her to prom, which is just around the corner.” Vicky looks over to Liam feeling unsure. She doesn’t know the guy. How can she be sure that he’ll help her? For all she knows he could also be going after Polly. But after taking one peak at the ghost smiling for whatever reason, it was enough to get the girl’s determination back, “Yeah alright, sounds like a good enough plan. I just need Liam to help me win over Polly. How hard can it be?”


	2. It’s a Deal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vicky tries her best to convince Liam to help her, but it ended up not being as easy as she thought it would be. At the same time Oz gets in trouble with none other than Damien.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might as well promote myself here. I’m lallorona04 on tumblr. I post art, mainly of my own characters, but I also like to draw fanart now and again. I can safely say that I’m a much better artist than writer. You can even ask me questions about the story, ask my characters some questions, or even request a small doodle. Alright self promo over. Enjoy this chapter!

You’d think that after skipping the morning classes, Vicky would be the honor roll student she is and go to her evening classes, right? No, of course not. She actually ditched Oz to search for Liam. Poor guy is now left on their own to fend for themselves against a terrifying demon when they go to detention. 

To sum up what happened in between chapters: Oz, being the good friend they are, was going to ask Liam to help Vicky take Polly to prom, but as they made their way to the table they ended up tripping and spilling their food all over Damien. Outraged, the prince of hell tackled poor Oz, which then lead to a big fight. It’s rare to see our soft shadow friend actually become aggressive, but they didn’t want to die at the hands of some wannabe punk ass arsonist (their words, not mine). A crowd formed as students placed bets on who would win. For a bit it seemed that they were on even footing until Oz surprisingly got an upper hand and pinned Damien to the ground. Before things could get bloody though, the coach had to split the two, and gave both of them after school detention. In the midst of all that chaos, Vicky searched for Liam only to notice that he left the cafeteria. Without thinking twice she left to go look for him. 

We now cut to the present with Vicky looking through every classroom just to find this purple vampire. As time passes she grows impatient. She’s at the point of giving up when she finally sees him turning the corner. For a moment, Vicky didn’t know what to do to get his attention. Of course she ended up doing the most rational thing and frantically waves her arms and calls to him, “HEY! HEY YOU PURPLE GUY!! OVER HERE!” 

Startled, Liam turned to the girl who was running up to him at full speed. Once she got close he pulled a knife out for self defense. To be fair how would you react if some lunatic started running up to you waving their arms and calling for your attention?

“Stay back! I’m not afraid to use this,” he yelled. 

Vicky stops looking worried at first, but she takes a good look at the weapon in both confusion and a bit of amusement. She points at it saying, “That’s a butter knife.”

“Well I left my gun at home, so this is all I hav- Not the point! Who are you and what do you want from me?!”

“Uh right,” her mind scrambles to find the right words, well my name is Vicky Schmidt and I Uh…” Once again her nerves are getting the better of her. She doesn’t exactly know how to bring the point across, “Ok so um, you see, I have a crush on your friend,um Polly, to be specific.” 

“Uh huh, what does this have to do with you running towards me like some patient who escaped from bedlam?” 

“Right well, god this is awkward.” She steps back as she pulls her hair slightly. In the meanwhile Liam hesitantly puts the knife down. He’s too impatient to really feel scared of this woman. Well that and she seems more like a ditzy airhead rather than a dangerous maniac, “Can you get to the point? I’m busy.” 

Vicky looks down at the ground. She’s too nervous to be able to meet his eyes, “Uh right. Ok right so I have a crush on Polly, and I can’t really talk to her without freaking out. I’ve tried, I really have, but I’m like a statue around her. She’s just so cool! She seems like this really fun peppy girl who can light up a whole room just by being there. Anytime she talks or even looks my way I can feel my heart speed up, which isn’t really possible, but still,” she sighs, “Sorry I’m rambling. What I’m trying to say is that I want to take her to prom. Not just that, I want to date her. I want to spend my afterlife with her, and I want you to help me with that. In all honesty she doesn’t really know me, so that’s why I want a friend of hers to sort of help bridge the gap. You don’t have to do much, just talk to her for me?” It’s the first time she’s poured her heart out in front of anyone other than Oz. She waits for his answer but gets nothing but silence in return. Confused, Vicky lifts her head wondering why Liam’s being so quiet only to see that he’s not there anymore . In a panic she turns the corner and sees him walking away, “...HEY!” 

Liam is nearly at the main office when Vicky catches up to him again, “What the hell?! I confessed something deep within my soul and you just walk away?!”

He groans, “Forgive me for walking off the second you spoke up. I just found you very annoying. Also I told you I was busy, so I didn’t have the time to listen to you express your feelings.” 

“Busy with what? You’re not even in class!”

He lifts a finger up to his lips indicating for her to quiet down. Only when she did she noticed, what should have been obvious, the shouting match happening between some students and the principal. Moments pass by as the two wait. Vicky is of course still pretty upset, but any time she tries to speak Liam only shushes her again. Not even in a polite manner. It sounds more harsh like when a librarian shushes the students who dare to speak. No she’s not judging the way he shushes her out of petty anger, shut up! Vicky just stands there pouting and waiting for the right time to speak up. However before she was ever given that opportunity the door bursts open as an angry Damien storms out. Only then does Liam move to follow the demon. Vicky was going to go after him again only to see Oz come out of the office, “Woah, hey buddy, what were you doing in there,” she asks. 

“Didn’t you see me fight Damien in the cafeteria?”

“Well yeah, but I saw Liam leave, so of course I chased after him rather than stay back and help you with the situation”

“Wow thanks. You truly are a good friend.” Once again their sarcasm was obvious, but as usual the tone passed over their friend’s head. 

“I try! Anyway, you lied when you said Liam's friendly! He’s just this rude jerk who walked off when I tried to talk to him!”

“Oh so we’re still going to talk about your problem rather than acknowledge the fact that I now have detention with Damien Lavey of all people? Sure whatever.” As usual Vicky was too busy ranting to really listen to Oz. They snapped their fingers to get her attention back, “Vicky please listen! I don’t want to be stuck in a room with that guy!” 

“Right sorry! How can I help?”

As they spoke they ran their fingers through their hair. Well whatever Oz has for hair, “I don’t know. Maybe sneak me out? Maybe when we’re in there you can create some sort of distraction.” L

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Pull the fire alarm, throw rocks at the window, do the fucking chicken dance in front of the coach for all I care! Just please don’t leave me alone with Damien!” Poor Oz sounds desperate. Who can blame them? Damien is probably one of the scariest monsters in the whole school. It doesn’t help that they pissed him off at lunch. Vicky is well aware of her friend’s fear, “Alright I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thanks Vicky. You’re the best.” 

They give each other a quick hug before walking over to the library. They already skipped most of the school day. They might as well spend the last few hours figuring out a proper plan to get Oz out of detention. 

When they walked in they noticed that the librarian wasn’t there. That would explain why two students, who are having a loud conversation over at the other side of the library, haven’t been burned alive yet. Both Vicky and Oz instantly recognized Damien’s voice harshly echoing throughout the room. Oz froze in their tracks and turned to the door, “Nope, not dealing with that fucker yet! Come on Vic, we’ll think of a plan in the bathroom.” With that they hurried out the door not stopping to see if their friend is following. 

Vicky was going to leave, but she stopped after she noticed Liam’s voice as well. For the most part she just wanted to avoid that rude monster, but there’s a small voice telling her to try again. Maybe she could try one more time to ask for his help. He didn’t even hear her offer. Maybe if she actually told him why she needs his help, then maybe he would listen. At least that’s what she hopes for. 

Taking a deep breath, Vicky walks over to where the chatter is coming from. It wasn’t hard to pinpoint where those two are. However once she reaches to the bookshelf that hides her from them she stops. Her nerves come back to prevent her from even trying, but she ignored them for the most part and peaked over. She could see Liam sitting at a table while Damien is pacing around looking more enraged than usual. Out of curiosity she listens in on their conversation. Not that it took any effort to. They were being very loud after all. 

“I swear once we’re alone in that classroom I’m going to kill that shadowy fucker,” Damien yelled. 

“Well you two are not going to be alone. The coach will be there too.” 

“So? I can just trick him into leaving the room. Then I’ll pummel that wimp till they’re nothing but a pile of mush on the ground!”

“You make it sound so easy even though they nearly beaten you to a bloody pulp during lunch.” A smirk appears on his face. Though it quickly went away as Liam seemed to be too focused...cleaning Damien’s jacket? That in itself isn’t weird. It did get stained by food and blood. No, what Vicky found odd about it is that it seemed like a strange act of kindness for the vampire to do. Especially after her first impression of him. Maybe Oz was right when they said Liam could be friendly. But no, there’s something else. Something in her gut tells her there’s another reason. There’s just something in the way Liam glances at Damien as the demon roars at him with fury and rage, for even daring to say that he nearly lost a fight. It’s a look that Vicky thought was familiar. She eventually thinks that it looks a lot like how Vera looks at her girlfriend, Amira. Her eyes just screams ‘annoyance,’ but at the same time it says...

“Oh my gooooooood,” she whispers under her breath. As soon as she made the realization, Damien storms out, with his now clean jacket, leaving Liam alone. In that instant Vicky charges at him and tackles him to the ground as she screams, “HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT,” over and over. 

It took Liam a couple of seconds to process what just happened. Though once he did he tried to push Vicky off him, “Get off me you irritating heathen!!! Have you been following me?!” 

However Vicky doesn’t budge. Rather than answering his question she leans in and whispers, “I know about you secret crush on Damien.” A wide smile is on her face, and it only grew wider with Liam’s reaction. He freezes as he stares at her with an intense look of fear in his eyes. He just has the perfect, ‘oh shit,’ look on his face. He’s quiet for a little while. Vicky actually starts to worry until he harshly shoves her off of him. He stands up and dusts himself off, “I have no idea where you got such an idiotic idea.” His voice seemed rather calm despite the look he gave her. 

She stands up as well, “I know you like him! You have these love eyes when you look at him!”

“You must be mistaking ‘love’ with annoyance.” 

“No, I know what I saw! Oh you totally have a crush on him! That’s why you cleaned his jacket right?”

“He threatened me to clean it!”

“Maybe, but I bet you were happy to do it! You must have enjoyed holding his jacket in your hands, cleaning it like how a boyfriend normally would. Just admit it! I know it when people like others!”

“Oh so because of this silly infatuation you have for Polly you think you’re an expert on love?”

“I’m yeah?! Isn’t that how it works?!...And it’s not an infatuation! I really really like her!”

“Do you even know anything about her other than she likes drugs, sex, and parties?”

“Uh yeah, she likes Russian literature.”

“Anything else?”

Vicky opens her mother only to have nothing come out. Rather than answering the question she changes the subject, “I know you like Damien, and I won’t shut up until you admit it!” 

He sighs as he pinches the brim of his nose, “You are being ridiculous! I do not have a crush on Damien!”

“Then why are you blushing so much?”

He turns away, “I’m not blushing!” 

Vicky simply rolls her eyes, “Sure whatever. You totally don’t have a crush on him. I’m sure you don’t daydream about your first date with him. Or your first kiss with him. Or how you wish to marry him in the future and have three kids. Two girls, one boy. All named after past presidents. I’m sure Abraham loves you very mu-“

Liam quiets her by placing his hand over her mouth, “What do I have to do, other than admit I like him, to get you to shut up?

Vicky smiles. Little did he know, she was actually hoping he would ask that. She moves his hand away, “Well I mean you could do this one thing.”

“What is it?”

“I just want you to help me win over Polly. Prom is coming up and I want to go with her. Problem is she probably doesn’t even know who I am. I just want you to help bridge this huge gap between us. Just tell her that I’m a great person, or maybe even help me in my schemes to impress her. I’m actually much better at those than being straight with my feelings. Just help me get close to her because you’re right. I don’t know anything about her, but I want to. I want to know more about Polly and the only way to do that is if you help me.” 

Liam only looks away from her. It’s clear that he’s thinking. He steps back mumbling to himself as she waits patiently for an answer. She can feel her heart pounding hard against her chest. He eventually looks back. Hesitantly he says, “I could help you, but only on one condition.”

“Anything.”

“I’ll help you with Polly as long as…,” he sighs. He can’t believe he’s saying this, “as long as you help me with Damien.”

A bright smile grows on Vicky’s face, “Soooo, you do like him?”

“I still refuse to admit that.”

She giggles, “Alright fine. I’ll take that as a yes, but,” she tilts her head, “Why do you need my help? Don’t you know him enough to just ask him out?”

“Well, I’ve tried. It’s a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. Anytime the subject of romance comes up it’s like the bees in my stomach are buzzing-“

“Yeah, yeah buzzing on cocaine or whatever. Good analogy. But I totally get where you’re coming from! I may not know Damien as much as you do, but I can totally help. I’m like the queen of coming up with crazy schemes to win someone’s love! We can totally work together! We’ll be like romance spies!” She bounces slightly on her feet as the bolts on her neck spark a little from her excitement. 

“So does this mean we have a deal?” He lifts his hand waiting for Vicky to shake it. She thinks about it. All she has to do is help Liam, and she’ll get his help in return. Sounds simple enough. She takes his hand and shakes it enthusiastically,

“Deal!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vicky has always been good at reading people. Only when she actually payed attention of course. That how she learned about Vera’s crush on Amira. Every time the gorgon looked at her hot headed friend, Vicky noticed something. Vera’s eyes screamed ‘annoyance,’ but at the same time...love.


	3. Operation: Break Oz out of Detention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oz and Vicky came up with a quick last minute plan to break Oz out of detention. Unfortunately Damien makes things harder for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is mainly the B-plot, but hey, you get to see Oz be badass. That counts for something right?

How funny is it that Oz and Damien happen to be the only two monsters stuck in detention. Now if only the coach wasn’t in there to keep watch then Damien could have his chance to beat up that twink of an eldritch abomination (again, his words). It’s only been two minutes yet the demon is tapping away on his desk trying to think of a way to get the two alone. He’s frustrated and it shows. Speaking of, the fearling isn’t really feeling any better. They keep glancing back over at Damien, and every time they do his expression just grows more and more aggressive. It started off with a glare, then he gives a low growl, then he’s making violent gestures with his hands, and it keeps going until it ends with Damien just inches away from Oz as he whispers, “You’re dead.” The fearling is cowers against the wall. How have they managed to nearly beat this guy in a fight? 

“Damien, sit down!”

The demon gives the coach a quick glare before sitting back down grumbling under his breath. Poor Oz can feel their skin melting from the anxiety building up in their body. They just hope that Vicky actually makes it in time. 

The two came up with a plan just an hour before school ended. It’s simple enough: Vicky will run in saying that there is some commotion in the hallway. The coach will leave with her. The second they both leave, Oz will just morph into a puddle and quickly slip out the school. There, it’s easy to follow, straightforward, and not too complicated. Just the way they like it. Of course Vicky wanted to go an extra mile like stage an actual fight, or bribe an extra accomplice to help sneak Oz out like a spy. Obviously they shut down those ideas. They’re already in pretty deep shit. They don’t want to sink any deeper by making things more complicated. 

Now they just need to wait for their friend to simply knock on the door. Minutes drag on by and yet still no sign of Vicky. It’s way too quiet. The only sounds breaking that silence was Damien’s finger tapping his desk. The constant tapping feels like some sort of countdown. Other than that it’s silent. Oz swears the others could hear their heartbeat, if they had one. The silence consumes the room and it’s ironically deafening. However it’s eventually broken by loud frantic knocking at the door. One of Oz’s phobias cheers, but Oz quickly quiets them with their hand. The coach walks over, but before he could open it, Vicky bursts in looking terrified, “Coach! Zoe has gone crazy! She’s already eaten half the students and most of the cafeteria food!” 

“Oh my, that is not very kind of her!”

“Indeed it’s not! We should both leave this room and look around the school for a long enough time for those two to escape at any moment! But it’s totally worth it cause we’ll be saving the other half of the students from being monster snack!” 

“Yes that is an excellent idea! Let’s go!” 

And with that the coach charges out of the room. Vicky follows not before giving Oz a sly wink. 

Damien was confused as to what just happened, but who cares? He can finally show Oz who’s boss. However when he turned to give the first blow he found the desk next to him empty. He frantically searches all over the room, and he catches a glimpse of black ooze slithering away at top speed down the hallway. A devilish smile is plastered on his face as he chases after his victim, “YOU’RE NOT GETTING AWAY THAT EASY, SHITFACE!”

Hearing Damien’s voice scared the living daylights out of Oz. They weren’t expecting the demon to chase after them! They could hear him thundering down the hall. The floor feels like it’s shaking with every step he takes. The vulgar words he keeps throwing are not helping either. He’s nearly caught up, but in an act of desperation, Oz sees the nearest vent, and in their slime form, slips right inside. They can hear echoes of Damien’s loud voice as they slither further away into the air ducts. They now feel safe in the secluded area within the walls. 

Damien is now left violently kicking and screaming at the vent. Some monsters who stayed behind were staring at him. He simply glares at them, and that was enough for those monsters to find the floor more interesting. Some even walk off as if they’re in a hurry to go somewhere else. Damien looks around trying to find another vent. The problem is he doesn’t know where Oz will pop up. It’ll be easier if he provoked the shadow monster somehow. Force him to come out of hiding. Man, he’s so brilliant! 

His thoughts were interrupted by a girl’s voice humming from down the hallways. At this point the other students left by now, so he’s now left alone with this stranger. It’s none other than Vicky who seemed to be celebrating. Most likely for keeping the coach distracted long enough. Clearly her and Oz’s plan must have worked, and there was no hiccup in it whatsoever. She’s so proud of herself that she’s dancing a little to her own music. She is such a good friend! 

This gives Damien an idea. One that he doesn’t really want to follow through. In all honesty he doesn’t want to hurt the girl. She just looks so soft, and she’s never done anything wrong. At least from what he knows of her, which isn’t much. Plus she buys him coffee whenever he and Amira are off burning down buildings. Still his need to beat up Oz greatly outweighs the very tiny conscience he has. So when Vicky seemed too distracted to pay attention, Damien tackles her to the ground. He picks her up and wraps an arm around her neck. His other arm is pinning hers against her back. With Vicky well restrained, Damien walks to the closest vent, “I’m holding your shitty friend hostage! You either come out and fight me, or I’ll torture her!”

Vicky is struggling against his grasp, “What are you going to do?!!”

“I’ll make you watch all three seasons Riverscale!”

“Nooooo not Riversc- wait I actually like that show!” She sounds slightly offended. How dare he imply that one of her favorite shows is bad! 

“Ah shit...well I’ll just beat you up!”

“Noooo!!!!” 

Vicky continues to struggle. His grip on her grows tighter to the point where it hurts. Why on earth would Liam have a crush on this brute of all people? She can hear thumping coming from one of the vents. It must be Oz! Guess there was a little hiccup in their plan. Oh boy do they sound angry. That’s never a good sign. It only makes Vicky want to escape even more. Her one free arm is randomly hitting Damien’s chest until it reaches up, and she ends up smacking his face. The shock of it makes him to let go. He can feel his cheek sting, “Fuck! you bit-oof!”

His insult was interrupted with a hard blow to the gut. It was strong enough to leave him stunned. Vicky took that chance to run away. As she does she calls out to him, “I’m sorry that I punched you, it’s your fault for wanting to beat me up! Bad, you’re bad! But don’t die! Ok bye!” With that she’s off. Even when she leaves the building she’s still running. Who knows how much damage Oz is going to do this time. It doesn’t matter, she just doesn’t want to be in that mess. 

God, it just seems like Damien isn’t having a good day. Honestly what is it with these monsters and them being stronger than how they actually look? And what did she mean by don’t die? He’s not going to lie, that sounded oddly cryptic. Well who cares, his plan didn’t work. He might as well just go home. Just when he thought he had enough, the school starts to rumble. The lights began to violently flicker until they shut off completely. At first Damien’s thinks it’s just an Earthquake, but he quickly changes his mind when Black ooze pours out of the vent. For a couple of seconds it just stays there. Damien is just about to scoff it off, but the puddle starts bubbling. It then begins to take form as the liquid turns into the shape of a beast. A bubbling, disgusting beast. One that looks unnatural. Something ripped straight from Lovecraft. Damien is left stunned staring at the monster right in front of him. He felt, terrified? Why in earth would he be terrified? He’s fought monsters much worse than this. But the feeling is consuming him. He can’t move, he can’t even speak. He’s left petrified. Frozen in fear as he looks up at the monster that was much too big for this hallway. The creature used one of its many appendages to lift the demon off the ground. They’re now face to face. A voice invaded his mind, 

“DOn’T eVEr huRT VicKy EVer AgAIn!”

And with that, the monster chucks Damien, and he smashes through wall after wall before he finally falls face first onto the grass outside. He thought he was going to pass out. And for awhile he even thought he was dead, but no, he eventually came back into consciousness. His head is throbbing in pain, but at least that dreadful feeling of fear is gone. What even was that thing? 

With shaking legs, Damien stands up to peak into one of the now numerous holes in the wall. All the way down he spots that thing as it morphs back into their usual self. 

Well shit, once again Damien was annihilated by Oz. Though this time he doesn’t feel angry. The display of horror and violence that he witnessed was actually… kind of hot? Ew no, no, no he should be angry. And he is. He’s very angry at the fact that he doesn’t know a lot about Oz. Or that he doesn’t spend any time with them. He always thought that was they were this helpless, meek, little bean, but apparently not! No, they can definitely hold themselves in a fight if that little cafeteria battle proved anything, and they’re sure as hell scary. Now if they’re as much of a pyromaniac as he is, then Damien just found his dream monster. 

____________

Vicky is on her bed looking at the new contact on her phone. It’s Liam or, “That Rude Twat,” as she labeled him. She decides to send him a message.

Vicky: I don’t get what you see in Damien. He tried to beat me up, I think he was chasing Oz around the school, and he said that Riverscale is bad! You have bad taste in monsters! >:(

Liam: I could say the same for you. I was tasked with taking care of Polly after she came back from a party. I didn’t know ghosts could still throw up. Also Riverscale is a bad show. 

Vicky: That’s just part of her charm. Also I know it’s bad, but that what makes it fun to watch lol

Liam: There is nothing charming about cleaning up puke. 

Vicky: Nothing is charming in your mind!... have you ever watched Riverscale?

Liam: No, it’s much too mainstream for my taste.

Vicky: Well you should! Maybe we can watch it together! We can make fun of-

Liam skims through the paragraph up paragraph of Vicky’s rambles with disinterest. He’s finished cleaning Polly’s mess. The ghost is off somewhere doing whatever. Not that he really cares. He doesn't know why he let her spend the night. However a small idea pops in his mind. 

Liam: Actually, watching Riverscale doesn’t sound like a bad idea. Perhaps you can come over tonight. 

Since Polly is already here, he can hold up his end of the deal and have Vicky spend some time with the party girl. In just mere seconds he gets a message from, “Annoying Lunatic.”

Vicky: Sure!! :D

He has to admit, the little emoticons are cute. At least she’s not using those dreadful emojis. 

Polly stumbles out of the kitchen, “Yo, you got any booze in here? Why is everything in here just blood? I can’t drink blood man, that’s gross! I swear, you are the worst host eveeeeeeeer!”

Liam simply rolls his eyes. Maybe inviting Vicky was a mistake. Polly is already annoying enough as it is. Those two really deserve each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, finally I’m getting into the meat of things! Now I gotta figure out how to write Polly properly.


	4. Notflix With an Anxious Mess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vicky goes to spend the evening with Liam, but surprise: Polly is there too. Also Amira is a scheming little shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to take the time to thanks you guys so much! Your comments have motivated me to continue with the story despite my laziness haha. I’m sorry that I don’t reply your comments. I just feel like constantly saying thank you will get repetitive and won’t hold any meaning over time. So this is just a big thank you for all of the people who are reading this and actually enjoying it!

Vicky found it odd for Liam to invite her over out of the blue. Maybe he just wanted to hang out, maybe he wanted to discuss a more concrete plan, or maybe there is some dark ulterior motive behind his actions... Nah, it’s probably the first option. She doesn’t question him any further, instead trusting the guy she only knew for barely even one day. 

As she was getting ready she heard a knock on her door, “Come in!”

Oz steps in looking frustrated, tired, and pretty disheveled. They flop onto her bed as they let out a long groan, “I think I’m skipping school tomorrow… And for the rest of my life.”

“Pfft whaaaaaat? You can’t do that.”

“I can and I will!”

“Is it so you don’t have to see Damien again?”

“Exactly. God that guy is the worst! I can’t believe he used you against me! Like, who does that?”

“Daw, were you worried about me? Don’t worry, big sis Vicky is a strong woman who can take care of herself.” She flexes only to show that she doesn’t really have any muscle. Though she is surprisingly strong despite her soft look. Fortunately her action did get a small chuckle from her friend, which was the response she was hoping for. 

“Yeah, I know you can. I gave him a good beating anyway. I probably broke a couple of bones.”

“Well good. He deserves it. Oh, sorry that I ran off by the way. I didn’t want to be caught up it that mess.”

“No I get it. You did help me a little though so thanks.”

“No problem! I’m willing to sell my soul for you, so that was nothing.”

“Ok, no need to be extreme there.” 

She merely shrugs and gives them a hug before pushing them out the door, “Now leave, I’m gonna have a tv marathon with Liam.”

“Wait, you’re hanging out with Liam? Oh, did you actually get him to help you?”

“Yeah! I mean, we sort of struck a deal. He promised to help as long as I helped him with his prom date.”

“Really? Who is he taking-“

Before they could finish their sentence, Vicky shuts the door on them, “Leave! I’m gonna change!”

Oz rolls their eyes as they walk over to the living room. They pass by Amira who stops them in their tracks, “Yo Oz, you will not believe the day I had.”

“I could say the same.” They continue their way to the living room and slumps on the couch. Amira follows and jumps onto it making Oz jump a bit, “Jesus, can’t you be more careful?! This apartment is already falling apart!”

“Yeesh, somebody’s pissed,” she chuckles only to see the grumpy look Oz is giving her, “Oh uh, wanna talk about it?”

“Not really. I just wanna rest.”

“Alright.” The two stay silent for a little bit. Though like Vicky, Amira isn’t really known to be the quiet type, “Hey, I know what will cheer you up. Next week we can go into town and wreck shit up! Like destroy buildings, rob banks, graffiti the town pretty, you love that shit!”

Oz has to admit, that sounds really tempting. They usually tend go off on a violent rampage as a form of stress relief. Though it’s usually at the junkyard isolated from anyone other monster. The event that happened earlier today should explain why that is. This; however, is like another level, “I’m not sure. I don’t really want to hurt anyone.”

“I promise you we won’t kill anybody. On purpose at least. We’ll double check before we blow up buildings, we won’t bring weapons when we’re robbing banks, and graffiti is already harmless fun. Come on it’ll be fun!” Despite her pitch, Oz doesn’t look convinced, so she decided to take another approach, “Pleeeeaaaaaaasseeeeee Oz! please please please ple-“

“Ok, Ok fine,” they raise their hands in defeat, “I’ll go with you.

Amira jumps up from the couch, “Awesome! I promise you won’t regret it!” She runs off to her room leaving Oz alone. Finally, they can take this moment to relax. And by relax of course that means passing out on the couch. 

Once Amira gets to her room she double checks just in case Oz isn’t following her. Sure enough that she’s alone, she still takes the extra measure of locking the door, jumping onto her bed, and hiding under the covers. Only then does she take out her phone to call someone, 

“Yo, Damien.”

“Did you invite them?”

“Sure did, and they said yes.”

“Nice!”

“Ha… so like, since when did you have a crush on Oz?”

“I DON’T HAVE A CRUSH ON OZ YOU FUCKING IDIOT! WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I LIKE THAT SPINELESS WORM? I SWEAR I’LL TEAR YOUR INTESTINE OUT AND PLAY JUMP ROPE WITH IT!” 

“That bad huh?”

“...Yeah.”

Amira can’t help but laugh, “Don’t worry, I won’t say anything to them. Also don’t forget to give me your leather jacket, that was part of the deal.” She could hear shouts of protest from the other line, but she hangs up midway. She already did her job. She doesn’t want to sit through Damien shouting any longer than she has to. 

_________

To say Liam is having a bad night is a bit of an understatement. It seems like the second he cleans up Polly’s mess she’s made another one except it’s worse than the one before. Now it seems like he lost the girl altogether! And of course this is stressing him out. Not because he’s worried for her safety. Well, he sort of is but one, she’s already dead, and two, he would never admit that he cares about a friend. Being sentimental is too mainstream. But seriously, he’s mainly worried because the only reason he even invited Vicky was so that she could get close to the party girl. If Polly isn’t even here then what’s the point?

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the doorbell chime throughout his home, which is basically like a mini castle. He hesitated not sure if he should answer or continue his search. He opted for the door. On the other side was Vicky who brought some snacks and her winning smile, “Hey Liam! I didn’t know what kind of snacks you like, so I just took whatever I could find from the cabinets.”

“Actually I don’t eat.”

“Seriously? Well damn, now what? I can’t eat all of these myself!” She lifts her arms showing the abundance of chips and candies that she brought. Even for three people it’s a bit much. 

“Well, I do have another guest who would most likely enjoy your...really, chips?”

“What’s wrong with them? Do you not like honey barbecue?”

“No, they’re just not aesthetically pleasing to the eye.”

“Who cares how they look? It’s not like I’m gonna do that thing where I upload food pictures to the internet. I mean, who even does that? It’s kind of silly if you ask me.” 

She could practically see the aura of anger emitting from the vampire. What did she say that could have pissed him off? Doesn’t matter, she just changes the subject

“Right, Sorry that I don’t care about of...food, but who is this mysterious guest of yours,” she gasps, “Is it Damien?” She gives him a sly smile before it quickly disappears the second she hears a voice from somewhere in the house, “Liam! Where the hell is your weed? I know I snuck them in here last week!”

“Wait, you did what?!”

The two begin have a shouting match, but Vicky is listening to none of it. Here she is, at Liam’s house, with Polly just in the other room… oh that rude twat tricked her! She should thank him really. After all it’s the plan, right? So why is it that she wants to beat him with a pool noodle for doing this? Why is she too nervous to talk to Polly, let alone be in the same house as her? They go to the same school damn it! Why now of all times are the bees buzzing around again?! Maybe running away is the best option. She’ll just move to another country. Change her name to Chicago Joe. Yeah that seems reasonable. 

It seems that the whole time she was internally freaking out, Liam has dragged her in. Well, too late now. The irons sure are in the fire. Can’t escape at this point. It’s time to die. 

Vicky collapses onto the couch conveniently placed behind her. Fortunately, Polly still isn’t in the room with them, so she pulls Liam onto the couch as well and whispers in his ear, “I can’t do this.”

“Can’t do what? Is it your choice of snacks because I can agree.”

“Oh just forget about the snacks! I mean this,” she wildly gestures to the whole room, “I can’t spend time with Polly!”

“Well that’s unfortunate considering you have to spend time with her if you want to date her.”

“Liam I’m serious. I don’t think I can do this!”

“Well you could either tough it out and stay here, or you can just end the deal right here and go home.” 

She glares at him, but she has to admit that he does have a point. She really can’t date Polly if she keeps avoiding her. She just has to tough it out as he said. It can’t be that hard. This is just a girl. A girl that Vicky has had a crush on for years. A really cool girl that’s really out of her league. Nope, no, she’s not going to let her feeling get the better of her! She can do this!

“Hey boo!”

She can’t do this, “I’m going to the bathroom!” Vicky stands up and rushes out of the room. Liam rolls his eyes but decides to follow her. However Polly stops him, “Hey where ya going? Are you going to le me alone again? You can’t do that, it’s boooooriiiiing in here!”

“I just need to show her where the bathroom is.”

“Who even is she? Oh, is she your girlfriend?! Oooooo are you two going to make out?” 

A warm blush appears on his face, “No! I barely even know the girl!”

“It’s even better when it’s with a stranger,” she says followed by a wink. 

“I’m sure that’s how you contract diseases. Now just sit down, and don’t you dare drink all the wine!” Polly does so, but she keeps giving him a big smirk as if she actually thinks he’s going to get some action. He leaves her and goes to find Vicky. It wasn’t hard to do so considering she’s sitting in the middle of the hallway right outside of the living room. Her back is against the wall, and she’s curled up into the shape of a little ball. 

“Get up, I’m sure that’s where Polly threw up.”

“I don’t care, just let me wallow in my pity!”

“You can’t just stay like that for the rest of the night. Besides, despair is just not a good look on you.”

“I don’t care if I look bad!” She looks up at him. Her face is flushed red for many reasons, and once again Liam has to admit that this is another aspect of her that he finds cute. Though that’s not really the appropriate thing to say at the moment. He sighs as he leans against the wall, “Forgive me for springing this up on you out of nowhere.”

“No it’s fine, you’re just trying to help. I’m just being stupid.”

“Yes, you really are. I’m glad that you are self aware.”

“Ok you suck at cheering people up.”

“I’m a vampire, sucking is what I do best.” He didn’t really intend on making a joke. It just slipped out. However it did seem to cheer Vicky up a bit as she bursts into a fit of giggles, “That sounds so wrong!”

Ok, she found the joke funny for another reason. Whatever, Vicky seems calmer now. Liam will count that as an accidental victory. He crouches down so that they’re about eye to eye, “Do you feel better?”

“A little”

“You can go home if you’re too uncomfortable.”

“No it’s fine, really. I just need to get my shit together I guess,” she softly giggles, “But um, maybe I would feel better if you sat between me and Polly. I think I can talk to her if I can’t directly look at her as dumb as that sounds.”

See Liam isn’t normally the kind of guy who would comfort some girl he barely knows. He wouldn’t take her hand, help her up, and lead her back into the living room. He wouldn’t bring a blanket just so she feels comfortable despite her anxious state. He wouldn’t make small quips with the sole intention of making her laugh again. He definitely wouldn’t eat some of her snacks just to humor her. They tasted terrible by the way. And yet after just mere hours of knowing Vicky, Liam has grown a small soft spot for her. Very small, but it’s there. 

The three have survived the first season of Riverscale. Vicky paused before the next episode begins, “Alright thoughts?”

Polly quickly speaks up, “Mughead is really hot! I mean it was also pretty shitty when those two chicks kissed just to get in some school club or whatever. Cause like, lesbians should totally not be seen as entertainment for the male gaze and shit. But yeah, that Mughead guy is smoken’.” 

“Y-yeah, girls should totally date each other without having to worry about men sexualizing them. Right Liam?” She nudges over to the vampire who looks like he has quite the rant that he’s about to unleash. 

“This show is horrendous! It’s like every single adaptation where they’re trying to make things dark and serious because adults are too god damn insecure to enjoy-“

God damn it Liam! He was supposed to back up Vicky’s claim, not make a 30 minute long rant about how adaptation nowadays are too serious to be considered entertainment! Not that it really matters. Vicky was actually really interested it what he was saying. She even threw in her own two bits here and there. The long conversation eventually ends with Vicky asking, “So you don’t like the show?”

“Oh no I love it. It’s a train wreck, but it’s a train wreck that I can’t help but watch.” 

Polly interrupts the two, “Oh my god, guys! Are we going to watch the second season or are you two just gonna keep talking smart shit? I swear you guys need a room. It’s like you’re making love but with your words!” 

“...Are you drunk?”

“Hell yeah! I don’t even know where this bottle of vodka even came from!” She lifts the bottle from out of nowhere. Not two minutes later they had to cut the night short cause Polly just passed out. Liam is just going to let her crash on his couch for the night. The two clean up as they have their usual banter of Vicky annoying Liam with minor things. Once they finish he leads her the door. Before she leaves she gives him a real quick hug and says, “Thanks for comforting me. That was really nice of you.”

“Oh I simply didn’t want you to be a bumbling mess the whole time.”

“Suuuuure. You totally didn’t do that because you care about me or anything.”

“Ok let's stop here. I don’t like where this conversation is going.” 

“Yeah yeah, alright,” she yawns, “I’ll see ya later.” She waves at him as she walks back home. He waves back. A small smile were on both of their faces for the rest of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Polly ships it.


	5. The Prank to End All Pranks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laim and Vicky get roped into one of Polly’s and Damien’s pranks. Chaos insues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was hard to write cause I have major writer’s block. Uggghhhhh

It’s been a week since that night when Vicky and Liam hung out with Polly. Since then Vicky has been hovering around the two, though mainly with Liam since she’s not entirely comfortable being alone with Polly just yet. Anyway it’s safe to say that little blue has misjudged Liam. He’s still pretty rude, but there’s this odd charm that Vicky can’t help but find endearing. Maybe it’s because he hasn’t really been as mean to her as he used to be. Whatever it is, Vicky hopes that even after prom they could still hang out. 

Amira can’t help but notice her friend spending more time with that weird hipster. It was made evident by the fact that during lunch, Vicky is sitting with Liam and Polly rather than at their usual table. When Oz shows up, Amira pulls them down to their seat, “Hey, I’m glad that Vic is finally talking to Polly and all, but how come she’s been hanging out with Dracula over there?”

“It’s a long story. Something, something, they made a deal. I don’t really know all the details.”

“So she’s basically using Liam for her own selfish gain,” she places a hand over her heart, “my little baby is growing up. I taught her well.”

“Why do you have to make it sound so evil? They’re working together, I think, so it’s really more like symbiotic relationship.”

“Look, if you can sound smart then let me sound evil. Speaking of, are you ready for tonight?!” 

“Tonight? Oh right, um, I don’t know”

“Don’t tell me you want to back out!”

“I mean, kind of? I just get the feeling you’re up to something.”

“Pfft whaaaaaaaat? Me, Amira the kindest, most loyal, hottest, and bestest friend you could ever ask for, is up to something? Ugh, shaking my head, Oz, I am disappointed that you would even think that!”

“I’m sorry did just say, ‘shaking my head,’ as you shook your head?”

“And now you’re questioning my actions?! Oh woe is me, you don’t trust me anymore!” She dramatically flops onto their lap, hand on her forehead and all. Some sparkles were added for special effects, “You have known me for years! I would never stab your back, you know this!” 

Oz pushes them back up, “Ok ok fine! Just don’t ever do that again,” they fall into a whisper, “everyone is staring!” 

Amira looks around and sure enough they are the center of attention. She of course doesn’t mind and even blows a kiss over to Vera who’s shaking her head. Oz on the other hand is hiding under the table. 

Liam has watched their odd dramatic scene with both annoyance and yet a hint of amusement, “Normally I would applaud such a performance, but now would be inappropriate, right Vicky?” She couldn’t hear him over her own cheering, “Yeah Amira! That sure brought me to tears! Woo!”

Amira bows but Oz goes on and melts into a puddle on the floor. 

 

Eventually everyone’s attention falls back to their own tables. Liam is scolding Vicky for her actions, but she only responds by messing with his food, and that in turn leads to more scolding. The cycle eventually stops with Polly slamming her hands on the table, “Guys we need to get this meeting in order!”

“What meeting,” Liam questions.

“The prank master meeting of course! We gotta prank someone everyday or else I’ll die again! That’s actually how I originally died.” 

“Well I don’t normally prank people, so I’ll just make my way out of this conversation.” He starts to leave and Vicky is ready to follow suit when Polly says, “Ugh fine, then I guess me and Damien will just figure this out on our own.”

Liam promptly sits back down, “Well I might as well stay cause you two won’t be able to come up with anything brilliant.” Polly was surprised, and a tiny bit offended, by his change of heart, but she didn't question it. The more to the party the better. Vicky in the other hand can guess why he did so, and she rolls her eyes as a response. Liam notices and gives her a glare, but she only smiles back. 

Speaking of the devil, Damien charges into the room and makes his way to the table. When he gets there he slams a bunch of miscellaneous objects onto the table, “Alright I brought these from my locker and...what the hell are these noobs doing here?” 

Polly waves her hand, “Cause they’re part of the squad now! I mean, Vicky at least seems cool enough to prank people.” That comment made said girl blush a little. She hides her cheeks by pushing her hair closer to her face, “Y-yeah well I may have pranked a few people here and there.” 

“Ok fair, but why the fuckstick is Liam here?”

Polly once again dismissively waves her hand, “Well duh, cause he’s smart.”

“Yeah but there’s no way he’ll be any help! What he gonna do? Nag the principal for his poor fashion sense?”

“I would appreciate it if you stopped talking as if I’m not in the room,” Liam says clearly offended, “besides, I’ve pulled pranks before. Very very violent pranks in the name of justice. Well they’re called riots, but I called them pranks. Whatever, that is a story for another time.” We have yet to unlock his secret tragic backstory. Now is not a good time anyway. 

As the two men bicker, Vicky pokes around at the things Damien brought. Balloons, an air pump, jars of deadly bugs as well as vials labeled, “poisonous gas.” Why on earth would he have all of these things? If he’s going to have poisonous gas then he should also have a gas mask. That’s just common sense! Not that Damien understands what common sense means. Vicky picks up the packet of balloons, “This actually reminds me of a senior prank I did senior year when I was alive,” both Liam and Damien quiet down for her to continue, “We filled up the principal’s office with balloons.” The others wait patiently for her to continue again. Polly speaks up, “And?”

“That’s it. I promise it was funnier than it sounds!”

“That’s it?! Man that’s lame. All you probably did was make it inconvenient for the principal to walk around. Where’s the fun in that?!”

“U-uh, well it’s w-was probably funny for humans b-back then.” Oof, Vicky feels like she wants to hide under the table. Maybe even morph into a puddle like her dear friend. Fortunately she still has that back up plan of moving to another city. Out of instinct she scooches closer to Liam, the only person at this table she’s comfortable with. He takes note of this and tries to think of a way to help her from her situation, “Actually she might be onto something. We could do something similar. We simply need to add something extra to make it fun,” he glances down at the jar of bugs and gas. An idea pops up in his head. With a smirk he says, “Like something gross, or venomous, or poisonous.” 

Damien squints his eyes, “What are you trying to say?”

“I’m saying,” he gestures to the jars, “we can fill the balloons with these things, wait for the staff to walk in, lock the door, and just watch as chaos ensues.” 

Damien gets a wicked grin, “Liam you sadistic genius! I knew you would come in handy!”

“No you didn’t.”

“Shut the fuck up, we got a prank to pull!” The girls cheer, Liam is unimpressed with Damien’s lack of care, and Vicky pulls out her trusty marker, “Ok ok, but we gotta think this through. How about this,” as she begins to explain her idea she draws cute little doodles of the gang on the table, “Liam and Damien will go off to the bathrooms to get the bugs and gas into the balloons. Polly and I will think of some way to keep the staff out of the room until we’re ready.”

Polly’s eyes sparkle with excitement, “Oh hell yeah boo! This is gonna be so cool! Let’s go!” 

“Uh w-we should probably think-“ However Vicky quickly shuts up when Polly takes her hand. Did it suddenly get really hot in here? No, cause she’s dead and can’t feel heat easily. But this is like some emotional heat. No wait, that just sounds wrong. Whatever, the point is that Vicky is blushing like crazy as Polly drags her out of the room. 

Well it seems like their plan is already in motion. Liam and Damien are left to carry all their supplies as they walk to the bathrooms. Luckily no one is in there. How convenient. Liam hands all the bugs to Damien, “Here, I’m not holding on to those disguising creatures.”

“Hey! I have you know that these creatures are my pets!”

“You take your pets to school? How adorable. It’s also pretty terrible for the pet’s condition to just lock them up in a locker for hours on end.”

“I don’t keep them in my locker! I’m not some monster.”

Liam looks into the camera like in The Office.

Damien continues, “I carry them with me. They get bored of being in my room all day.” 

“But I doubt that the school is a safe environment for them.”

“Stop fucking judging the way I take care of my pets and start working, shithead!”

Liam rolls his eyes. He’s used to Damien’s harsh words and constant yelling. He’s even hiding a small smile as he works. The vampire enjoys messing with the demon. The reactions are fun to witness. Well that and it’s actually cute knowing that Damien brings his pets to school. 

“I see you smiling, shithead!” 

_________

Vicky is trying to catch up to Polly who is floating to the office, “Polly wait! We don’t know how we’re going to keep the teachers out!”

The ghost skids to a stop, “Oh snap, you’re right. No it’s fine. With my hot bod and amazing charisma, I’ll totally use my charms to just convince them to stay out.” 

“And I’m sure that would work, but I mean we need something more solid. Um, what if you go in and use you powers to make a ruckus, and I say that the room is haunted!” 

“All I heard was ‘make a ruckus,’ but I am so in! I’ll make the biggest mess that the janitor will want to quit his job! You are so on a roll with these plans! I wanna smooch that beautiful brain of yours!” She phases through the wall and begins wreaking havoc. Not that Vicky notices. She’s too busy squealing at the fact Polly called her brain beautiful. She was so lost in thought that she barely noticed the teacher about to walk in, “Uh wait, don’t go in there!”

“Why not?” The teacher doesn’t really bring up the fact that Vicky is skipping class. After all that is a very common occurrence in this school. 

“Well um, there is this, uh, very pretty ghost lady of a...monster slayer!” She says that loud enough for Polly to hear. The ghost takes that as a cue to amp it up, which she does so, “Yeah, hear that? It’s the ghost, and she cursed that room so if any monster goes in they will die instantly! Well the curse will end after school at around,” she checks the her watch that suddenly appeared on her wrist, “4:10pm maybe.”

“Huh, that’s an oddly specific curse, but I am completely convinced that you are telling the truth. I will warn the other staff members. Thank you young lady. You are a great hero and totally not some student up to anything mischievous.” They walk off and Vicky fist pumps, “ Heck yeah! They don’t call me Vicky the ultimate smooth talker for nothing! Go Vicky, go Vicky!” She does her little victory dance. 

“Are we late for the party?” 

She jumps and yelps at the sound of Liam’s voice. She turns to see both him and Damien with a big bag stuffed with balloons inside, “Let us in, noob.”

She’s about to only to remember the event of last week. Instead she decides to tease Damien a bit, “Alright but only if you ask politely.” 

“God damn it Vicky, Let us in or I’ll strangle your neck again!” The threat caused Liam to glare at the demon though he doesn’t understand why. Nor does he know why he developed the sudden urge to protect her. Maybe it’s because Vicky looks small and fragile? Even then he normally wouldn’t care enough to want to protect her if that was the only reason. Not that she needs protection when she says stuff like, “I said polite Damien, that wasn’t polite! I will punch you again if I have to!” Clearly anyone who talks back to Damien can either hold themselves in a fight or are just really dumb. To Liam, Vicky can go into either category. Before either could say anything, Polly pops her head through the door, “What are you guys doing waiting out here? The party’s inside!”

“Alright I guess you guys can go in,” Vicky opens the door for them. They sneak in, Damien throws a glare, and she shuts the door and waits for them to do their thing. 

Minutes crawl by, and the teacher from before comes back once again. This time they brought other teachers who in turn brought pitchforks and fire. Vicky frantically blocks the entire door with her body, “W-w-what are you doing back here?”

“Well when I was explaining the situation to the others we decided it would be in our best interest to fight the curse away. We still have a job to do, and we do not want this spirit harming our students.” 

“Yes of course that makes sense, but um, you shouldn’t go in until the ghosts go away!” She shouts that last part loud enough for the others to hear. 

They were about done releasing the balloons from the bag when they hear Vicky. They can also hear the teachers shouting for the hallway. 

“That’s our cue to get the fuck out of here,” Damien says as he secretly sneaks a couple of balloons into his jacket. Don’t judge him, some of his bugs are scared of loud noises. They seem to be growing more aggressive by the second. 

Liam is looking around, “But how? The only exit is being blocked by a mob. Unless you want us to go out the window and plummet to our deaths. Well,” he looks at Polly and notes that he himself can turn into a bat if needed, “your death.” 

“Hey, if I can survive being flung through walls then I can survive a four story drop.”

“Fair point, but what about Vicky?” He watches as Damien is already making his way to the window. 

“What about her?”

“We can’t leave her out their. The mob will probably tear her to bits, literally.” 

“I’m sure she’ll be fine. The girl is tougher than she looks. Besides when did you care?”

“I don’t, I just think it’s a bit inhuman to leave a teammate on her own like that.”

“Well surprise, we’re not humans! Now let’s go or else we’ll be torn apart as well!” He has one leg out the window, but before he can jump out, Liam grabs his arm pulling him back in, “We are not leaving until we know Vicky is safe!”

Damien makes violent gestures but he eventually gives in, “FUCKING FINE! Uhhhh, Polly!”

“Yes sir, man sir!”

“Go save Liam’s girlfriend so that we can get out of here!”

“On it! 

She’s about to fly off before Liam stops her, “Wait! We can’t have the teachers see you.” 

Damien growls, “For fuck sake!” He looks around and sees the empty bag on the floor. He grabs it and puts it over Polly, “There, no one will know it’s her!”

“Damien, that’s not going to work! They can still see her through the bag!” Before Liam could take the bag off however, Polly fades through the door and pops up on the other side, “Boo bitches!”

The crowd of teachers scream in terror. Even Vicky is taken aback, “Oh my god that room really is cursed!” Before anyone can react, Polly scoops Vicky up like a princess and flies off, “Later suckers!” Half the crowd chase Polly while the other half are trying to break the door down. 

Damien is once again halfway out the window, “Alright, she’s safe, now let’s get out of here!”

“I still think there should be a better way to escape than jumping out the window.”

“Too late asshole, I’m not waiting another second!” And with that he leaps out flipping Liam off in the process. When he hears a thud from outside he peaks out just to make sure if the demon isn’t dead or something. 

On the ground, Damien made enough impact to cause a small hole on the ground in the shape of his body. He gives Liam a thumbs up, “Told ya I’d survive!” Though he does groan right after he speaks clearly in pain. 

Liam rolls his eyes. Well at least Vicky is fine, oh and Damien. Granted, that demon gets himself into so much danger to the point where Liam doesn’t care much for his safety anymore. Key word: much. On the other hand, Vicky, in his mind, is this soft annoying princess who needs to be protected. Should he really be justifying his reasoning so much? Maybe it’s the girlfriend comment that got him thinking. His thoughts are interrupted when the banging on the door grows more violent. He needs to escape now! 

Despite his ability to fly, Liam is still looking for some other way to leave. He just doesn’t want to turn into a bat. It’s just too much of a cliche for him to do. Surely there must be a more creative way to escape. However he’s not given much time as the door bursts open with angry teachers making their way in. Out of instinct he quickly transforms and flies out the window. From where he is he can hear the balloons pop as well as screeches of terror as the bugs bite the people inside as well as thuds of people falling onto the floor after breathing in the poisonous gas. Fortunately no bugs were harmed in the making of this prank. Even when he gets closer to the ground he can hear the screaming, but that gets blocked out by Damien’s cackle. 

“Holy shit, this is fucking metal!! Just listen to them! They’re writhing in agony! I taught my baby bugs well.” 

Liam transforms back. He helps Damien up, “Well let’s not forget that this was my idea. So, you know, you’re welcome.”

“Dude, you need to come up with pranks more often! I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we gotta do this again!” 

“I’d rather spend my time and energy doing something no idioti-shit why does it feel like I’m burning?!”

“That’s cause you’re out in the sun dipshit.” Damien takes his jacket off and holds it over Liam’s head.

“Oh, thank you.” If his heart still worked there’s a good chance it would be skipping a beat. 

“There ya go, I saved your girlfriend and your ass. You owe me something.” 

And that statement would deflate his heart altogether, “She’s not my girlfriend.”

“You act like she is. I want my jacket back by tomorrow by the way.”

Liam chooses to ignore that first statement, “Good, I don’t want to keep this tacky poor excuse of a jacket.”

“What the fuck did you just say! That jacket was made by the best designer in all of hell! Hey get back here!” 

Liam is already heading home with the jacket the he totally doesn’t plan on wearing inside his house for the rest of the day. Damien is chasing after him, but he manages to outrun the demon thanks to the convenient power of Vampire speed. 

_____________  
Vicky is struggling trying to get the ghost to let go of her, “Let go of me monster hunter! I will slap you to extra death if I have to!” 

Once the two girls are out of the building and lose the mob chasing after them, Polly drops Vicky onto the ground. She takes off the bag, “Relax Vicky it’s me, your friendly neighborhood Polly!”

“Oh! Oh I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to hit you so much! I thought you were actually the ghost of that monster hunter I made up.”

“That’s cause my costume was soooo convincing. I even spooked myself!”

“Really?”

“Nah, But hey the plan worked! I think. I don’t know, but I’m sure it worked. Cause you’re, like, super smart.”

“Oh, pfft, yeah well I’m not on high honors for no reason haha.” 

“Did you see the look on their faces? I was like, ‘boo,’ and they were like, ‘ahh, that super hot ghost is also super scary, ahh!’” 

“Yeah, you did a great job back there. I was sure as hell convinced.”

“Yeah you were! All punching and screaming. Good thing most of those hits phased through me. Hey, we should really hangout some more.”

“Wait really?”

“Yeah, we can pull more fun pranks together, we can go out to parties, go shopping, as long as you don’t make me pay for everything. Oooo I’m so excited just thinking about it.” 

“You are? I mean, yeah sure! Um, I’m gonna n-need some way to contact you though.”

“Don’t worry, boo. I got you!” 

They exchanged numbers and Polly flies off saying she needs to “study”. Of course she meant study the chemical formulas of drugs to make some of her own. 

Vicky stood in the same spot staring at the new contact in her phone. The bolts on her neck give a quick spark before she jumps up for joy, “I got her number!!!!” She’s bouncing around, doing her little dance, and so on all the way home. The second she gets home she texts Liam what happened. In return he tells her how he got Damien’s jacket. They text for a little longer and come to the conclusion that they should celebrate their small accomplishments. Well Vicky came to that conclusion, but she managed to convince Liam that it’s a good idea. After all, in her mind, they are just one step closer to getting their prom dates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh hey, what’s this? Could it be that Liam is developing feelings for a certain someone?


	6. Painting the Town Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oz and Amira go have their night out in the town. Though Amira brings one mysterious guest with them. Except it’s not mystious cause we all know who it is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo I’m sorry for the long wait. I just honestly have been feeling unmotivated. Well it started with writer’s block that then lead to my lack of motivation. But I pushed through!! Thank you guys for waiting patiently! Also heads up; this is a long chapter.

“You and Liam sure seem to have been getting along. What about this one?” Oz models a black leather jacket. They’re trying to figure out what to wear for their night out with Amira. 

“Leather isn’t really your type. And yes Liam and I are getting along just fine. Are you jealous that he will become my new best friend?” Vicky gives them a playful smirk. Even now she’s texting him as she critiques Oz’s clothes. She does put down the phone to hand them a white t-shirt and a yellow formal looking vest, “Try these. It’s like your usual look but snazzier!” She does little jazz hands for some added enthusiasm. 

Oz takes the shirt and tosses a pillow to Vicky, “Don’t look.”

“I won’t, I won’t.” 

“And I’m not jealous. I mean, after 13 years of friendship I doubt you’d instantly toss me aside for some hipster,” they take off their jacket and shirt and begin to put on the other shirt and vest, “It’s just, we haven’t really been hanging out lately. You’re so caught up with your little plan with Liam while I’ve been on my own this past week. It doesn’t help that Brian has just up and disappeared, so I can’t really hang out with him.” 

“Hey yeah where is Brian?”

“Not the point.”

“Right sorry. And I’m sorry for being distracted this whole time,” she peaks up from her pillow and smiles brightly, “I knew that outfit would look good on you.”

Oz runs up to shove the pillow back in her face, “I didn’t say you could look yet!”

“Hehe, what’s the problem? You already have your shirt on!” 

“Yeah, but what if I didn’t?!”

“I’d probably feed that giant mouth on your stomach,” her voice is muffled due to the pillow on her face. 

“Please don’t bring that up!”

Vicky takes the pillow and gently hits Oz with it, “But it’s so cool!” 

Oz finds another pillow to hit her with, “That's why I hate it! It’s supposed to be scary not cool!”

“It’s not my fault I got used to it!”

A pillow fight builds as their argument turns into fits of giggles. The battle would have raged on if Amira hadn’t walked in, “Yo Oz, it’s time to tear some shit up!”

“Alright I’m ready. Just remember we’re not killing everyone.”

“No killing!”

“And it’s just you and me?”

“Why would you even ask that?”

“Amira.”

“Ok yes, it’s just you and me.”

Oz is still not completely convinced, but they simply shrug off their worry. They turn to Vicky, “I’ll be back soon. Don’t burn the apartment down while we’re gone.”

“I won’t. And hey, I promise that I’ll make it up to you!”

“For what?”

“For not being around. We can do something special. Just you and me. No schemes, no vampires, just us.”

If they had a mouth then Oz would have a small smile on their lips, “That’s not really necessary, but alright. Let’s do something next week.”

“Sounds like a plan!”

“No plans.”

“Right,” she answers with a giggle. 

“Alright, see ya!”

“Bye!”  
_______

Oz and Amira walk outside in silence. No matter how many times she reassures them, Oz can’t help but feel that there is something else going on that she’s not saying. Oz has always had good intuition, and if their gut says something fishy is going on then something fishy is going on. But they can’t pinpoint what that fish is! 

Amira of course notices her friend’s unease. She gives them a pat on the back to snap them back to reality, “Oz you need to relax. I told you multiple times that you just need to trust me. I promise you that the three of us are going to have fun!”

They let out a heavy sigh, “Alright fine. All three of us are going to...wait three?”

They notice that Amira’s grip on their back tightened. Enough that if they wanted to run away they couldn’t, “Amira, who else are you bringing?”

She shrugs her shoulders, “Uh well, no one special. It’s just that we normally hang out with Vicky, but he requested that he wanted to spend time with you instead.”

“He? Who’s he? Amira who else is coming with us?!” The panic in their voice rose when they began to piece together exactly who that extra member is. 

“Weeeellll…” 

They turn the corner and in that instant, Oz is desperately trying to fight Amira’s grip, “GOD DAMNIT I KNEW YOU WERE UP TO NO GOOD!”

Right across the street is standing the only classmate, other than Zoe, who actually scares the embodiment of fear. Damien Lavey everybody, Damien motherfuckig Lavey. 

Amira smiles brightly while Oz is spazzing around trying to get out of her steel grip. She walks over to the demon while Oz is shouting every curse they knew. It’s amazing how creative they can get with their swearing. Though, “bitch twat McGee,” was a bit of a dud. Amira goes on ignoring them and instead greets Damien with an overly complicated handshake that only the best of buds can have to power to do. 

“So Damien, are you ready to show this nerd the time of their lives?!” She gestures to Oz, the nerd. 

“Fuck yeah I am! Come on noob!” He takes Oz’s hand pulls them over to his super cool bike that can’t really fit three people, but that doesn’t stop Damien from trying. 

Thoughts race through Oz’s mind. Mainly their confusion as to why Damien is suddenly acting so friendly. Just a week ago he was ready to straight up murder them. Ok maybe not murder them, but they were definitely not on good terms. Maybe his secret plan is to lure Oz to an empty room and exact revenge. No, Amira would never let something like that happen. Hell, she wouldn’t let them near Damien if she knew he wanted to hurt them. So clearly Damien isn’t mad anymore about what happened last week, right? But why?!!

With the mix of, stress, worry, and panic, Oz melts until they are nothing more than a puddle on the ground. Both Amira and Damien stare in astonishment at the black ooze. Amira looks at the bag hanging on the handle of Damien’s bike, “...Did you by any chance bring a bucket?”

___________

When Oz wakes up they find themselves in the junkyard where they normally destress themselves. Hopefully the events that happened before they passed out was just a dream.

“Hey, the nerd’s awake!”

Well shit. 

Damien rushes to Oz’s side and pulls them up from the ground, “How did you do that?!”

“D-d-do what?”

“That melting puddle thing?”

“Uhhhhh…” They glance over at Amira who’s rummaging through the garbage pile. She’s not going to be any help at the moment, “It just happens when I’m feeling o-overwhelmed I guess.”

“You did it last week too. When you ran off from me in detention.”

Oh shit, why did he bring that day up? Maybe he is still mad.

“That was so cool! And the way you threw me though those walls was fucking metal!!”

Wait, so he’s not mad? What the fuck? Why is he not mad?!! Damien is always mad! Why the fuck is he leaning closer??

“Hell, it was also kind of hot.”

Akfhdhwidhsvaichsgwiiszh??!!?!??

Oz can’t find any words to respond to that. Did he actually enjoy being thrown around like a rag doll? What the hell is wrong with this guy?!

Out of nowhere, Amira appears between them giving the two some space from each other, “Guys stop, I can feel the tension from like a mile away. You ok Oz?”

No they’re not ok! They’re going to spend the rest of the night worried if Damien likes them or not, and wondering which one is worse, “y-yeah, totally fine.” 

“Great! Then let’s get this show on the road!” 

She takes Oz’s hand and drags them over to this giant sculpture that she made, “Tada! I made that when you were unconscious. I call it, ‘Abstract Junk Art.’” And abstract it is for it's literally just junk pieced together at odd angles. The height is pretty impressive at least. Anyone could see it from miles away, “Damien, tell our lovely guest what we’re going to do with this.”

“We’re going to blow this shit up at the end of the day!”

“Yep! It’s pretty much a tradition I guess. We always gotta end a night out by blowing something up.”

“Normally it's a house, but Amira said you didn’t want to hurt anybody. I mean that’s not fun, but I guess we can make an exception for the night.” 

Oz is slightly taken aback at the fact that Damien is being considerate, or maybe Amira threatened him to not commit murder. Either way, they’re is fine with it. 

Amira claps her hands to get both of their attentions, “Alright team, here’s the plan: we’re gonna warm up with some graffiti, work on our robbing skills by stealing some fireworks, and finish off by using those to blow up my masterpiece, any questions?”

“Why the hell do you sound like a coach before a big game?”

“No questions? Good, let’s go!” 

She marches on forward to Damien’s motorcycle. Said demon is walking by her while Oz is a few feet back. She takes the opportunity to whisper to Damien, “Hey, you might want to reel it in. You’re scaring the poor fella.” 

“What?! Please, if anything we’re going to be lovers by the end of the day!” 

They both glance at Oz who’s very clearly on edge and feeling anything but in love. They step on a twig, it snaps, and they yelp in fear from the noise.

“See, they dig me already.”

“Ok sure whatever, but what I’m simply saying is that you need to be more, what’s the word…or right, it’s subtle”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“...Are you fucking serious?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh my god. Ok so you’re really straightforward, and that’s not really a big problem, but when it comes to Oz you’re going to need to take that forwardness and knock it down a few pegs. Especially since they’re pretty scared of you right now.”

“What?! Why the fuck would they be scared of me?! Normally that’s fine, but Oz can’t be scared of me. Did you fucking see them last week,” he growls, “I’ll show them, I’ll be the nicest guy on this motherfucking planet that even those fucking piece of shit angels will be jealous of my kindness!” His voice rings an echo across the junkyard. Birds fly out of the trees, and of course Oz is terrified by the demon’s sudden outburst. 

Amira just gives him this deadpan look, “...Nope, no, you’re hopeless. I’m just gonna have a good night. You’re on your own.” She walks on ahead with Damien chasing after her. Oz follows far behind though they’re debating on taking this chance to run away. 

The bike ride wasn’t as cramped as they thought. Mainly because Oz shifted their form into that of a frog. An animal that Amira is scared of, but since they can only shape shift into things people nearby are scared of they didn’t have many options. 

Their first destination would be an alleyway. One discreet enough to let them be able to do graffiti on, yet there is still the possibility of them getting caught. The adrenaline of the chase is usually the fun part as Damien would say. All three hop off his bike. Amira pulls some spray cans out of her bag that she totally had this whole time. She tosses them to the ground letting the other two pick whatever colors, “Alright you two have fun. I’m gonna go and, I don’t know, keep watch or whatever.” She walks off leaving Oz alone and afraid. It’s clear at this point that she’s acting as a wingman for Damien. He made it very clear that he wants to be alone with Oz when they made the deal. To get to know them and all that. Of course Amira was hesitant because she’d essentially be throwing away a good night out. She only agreed after he said he’ll giver her one of his jackets. So now she’s off on her own waiting for those two get it on or whatever. 

Unfortunately those two are not getting it on. In fact, Oz is actually staying far away from Damien as possible. However he shouldn’t really question it or command Oz to come closer. One, that’s just a shitty thing to do and Damien knows that, and two, Amira said to be more subtle. So instead he starts up a friendly conversation. 

“So, are you single?”

Alright subtly has just been thrown out the window. 

“W-what?”

“Are you deaf? I asked if you’re single.”

“Uh y-yeah, But why is that important?”

“Well it totally has nothing to do with the fact that I find you attractive.”

“Uh yeah, alright.” And they just go quiet. 

The other conversations follow the same pattern. All the while they spray paint the walls. Damien’s are mainly messy and crude while Oz’s are actually pretty. They mainly used the black paint, but the mural of a woman dropping into nothingness is actually well done. 

“Woah, where did you get that kind of talent?” It was clear that Damien was blown away. First he learns that Oz is badass and now he learns that they’re pretty artsy. Granted that last one is kind of lame in his eyes, but even he has to admit that the unsettling aura coming from the painting is pretty dope. 

“Oh uh Vicky taught me.”

“Oh yeah that one frankengirl.”

“Yeah, the one you used as bait to lure me. Thanks for that by the way.”

“Yeah, good times am I right?”

They just give him a condescending look. There was even a hint of anger, but rather than acting out they just go back to painting. Once again they’re back to the awkward silence. Though this time Damien occasionally threw in some compliments at Oz’s work. He has to be nice to win them over anyway, right? He hates it, but he hates the idea of being rejected more. 

However all this does is confuse poor Oz since, despite the kind words, Damien still delivers them in this aggressive manner. Almost as if he’s angry at the fact that they’re good at art. 

After a bit of time passes, Amira is running down the alley and hops onto the bike, “I got bored, so I called the cops. They’re going to be here soon, so hurry up!” 

Oz hurries to the bike, but Damien lingers hoping for the cops to get close enough to give them a good chase.

And what a chase that was. With Amira behind the wheel she used her awesome skills to maneuver through traffic, drive into buildings without a scratch, and even hop onto roofs using bullshit action movie logic! 

Her bullshit powers do come to and end, and they end up crashing into a Walmart. It’s apparently the human equivalent to Maulmart except with less illegal weapons and more aggressive customers. Normally it would still be open but because of even more bullshit reasons, it’s closed. So now they’re in a dark and empty building. 

Amira brushes off the glass piercing her skin, “Woah his place is deader than Brian.”

Oz gets up thanking whatever gods that they’re not dead. They can’t even die but alright, “Maybe it’s cause it’s closed.”

“You know what that means right?”

“Uh, we should go home a call it a night?”

“No, it means we should raid the hell out of this place!”

They groan, “But I’m tired! Plus I think we killed Damien.” They point to the body of the motionless demon. 

“Oh shit!” She runs over to the body trying to shake him awake.

“Actually now that I think about it can a demon even die? Where would he go? Knowing how he is he’ll just wind up back in hell, but wouldn’t he just be back to his usual-“

They were interrupted by said demon groaning. He lifts himself up, “Shit that was..FUCKING AWESOME!” He hops up only to double over, “Oh fuck, I think I broke something.” He feels his chest and goes lower until he feels his rib cage, “Yep they’re broken. Eh it’s fine I can just punch them into place.”

“I don’t think that’s how you fix broken bones.”

“Guys shut up.” Amira’s voice falls into a whisper. They all hear someone whistling from far away, “Hide!”

They all do so as a human security guard patrols the area. He’s a pretty big guy. He looks like he could take anyone in a fight. Anyone that’s human at least. After inspecting the area, not that thougougly considering he ignored the broken doors and empty bike laying on the floor, he walks off to another area of the store.  
The three monsters all pop out from their hiding place. Amira, who I guess is in charge of this trio, groups the other two into a huddle, “Right normally we will just kill that guy, but just for tonight we’re going to steer clear from him. Got it?”

Oz nods but Damien is hesitant. 

“Right Damien? No killing, ya know. For Oz’s sake.” 

He rolls his eyes, “Ugh fine 

“Good, now let’s go steal some shit.”

They look around the store hoping to find something, anything cool, but they were all disappointed to only find food, utensils, furniture, just normal boring stuff. But hey at least they all sell for a low low price. Not that it matters cause they’re not paying for shit. 

Damien has had enough of this boring trip and out of anger kicks one of the shelf hard enough to nearly knock it over. Fortunately both Oz and Amira are quick enough to catch it before it topples over. The latter not being too happy about it, “Watch it! We have a guard on the loose.”

“Then let’s leave!”

“No! Not until we steal something!”

“Like what? This store has nothing interesting in it!” 

She can’t really argue with him there. Though after taking one quick look at the security cameras she makes her way to the back. Damien is chasing after her yelling, “Hey red, where ya going?!”

“Security room. They have to be hiding something in there, right?”

“Like what, porn magazines?! I bet those will be boring too!”

“If you don’t want to follow me then fine. Go stay with Oz.”

“I will be happy to!”

“I-I actually prefer it if he didn’t,” Oz interjects. Not like either of the two heard them. Now they’re once again stuck with this terrifying demon of a menace who is now dragging them to some other part of the store. 

“Uh w-where are we going?”

“I don’t fucking know! Everything in here is lame!” His volume is rising with every word he says. Wether he’s frustrated from the lack luster night or the fact that Oz still doesn’t like him is beyond anyone. 

Oz doesn’t want to get caught, mainly for the guard’s sake, so they’re looking for something to distract the demon. Their eyes land on the wall of bikes in one aisle of the store. They tug on Damien’s jacket and points over to it. When he turns to see he’s a bit confused at first, “What do you want to set the bikes in fire?”

“What? What is it with you and fire? No, I think we could ride it around the store. It’s better than doing nothing at least.” 

“Oh...oh! Not a bad idea!” Once again he starts dragging Oz with him. While they’re not a fan of the whole being dragged thing, Oz will admit they like having their cold hands be warmed up by Damien’s. Which is why they were mildly upset when he let go just to forcefully rip a bike from the wall and slam it onto the floor. He holds on and motions them to do the same by patting the back half of his seat. 

“Can’t I just take my own bike?”

“No, I want you to ride with me.”

“Alright so should I just morph into-“

“No just get in the basket!”

“Alright fine just stop yelling!” 

They squeeze into the basket in front and moves a bit so Damien can see. With that he instantly pedals off at full speed! It’s so fast that he left a small trail of fire from where he started. 

“Damien slow down!”

“No way, noob!” Instead he picks up even more speed! Like Amira, Damien has his own action movie bullshit powers. He’s zooming down aisles, jumping over wracks, and he even goes out to the parking lot so that they have more room to pulls off even more bullshit that could kill a man! 

Despite their worries at first, Oz is actually enjoying this. Adrenaline pumps through their body as Damien rushes around the parking lot. It feels like they’re on a roller coaster. A very deadly roller coaster where one wrong room could cause them some limbs, but who fucking cares?! They’re both whooping and hollering loud enough for people miles away to be able to hear. 

It’s all fun and games until Damien leaps over the fence and lands into the signature Walmart pond that they always have for some reason. Even then it’s still fun and games. Neither of them are hurt, ok well Damien probably broke his ribs even more. Not that he notices. They’re both too busy laughing up a storm. This has to be the most fun they’ve had all night. Mainly because the night has been entirely boring before then. 

Soon enough their laughter fall into small giggles. Their shoulders bump and they gradually grow quiet. Damien turns to face Oz. They’re just inches apart. Being this close to them causes he his heart to skip a beat. Without thinking he leans in for a kiss only to be met with a hand pushing him away, “What the hell are you doing?”

He’s shocked to hear this response from them. Weren’t they having a little moment? 

“What does it look like? I’m thing to kiss you!”

“What makes you think I would want to kiss you?!”

“I thought we were having a fucking moment! Like those couple in the romance movies I never watch!” Sure he doesn’t. 

“Uh ok sure that was fun. And I guess you’re pretty attractive, but that sure as hell doesn’t make up the fact that 1: you fought me in the cafeteria, 2: you hunt me down the hallways to beat me up, and 3: you used my best friend to lure me out and TRIED TO BEAT ME UP!” They get up and waddle out of the pond. They phase through the fence with ease and they continue to storm back into the store. 

“Hey wait!” Damien charges out of the pond and leaps over the fence. They catch up to Oz who’s still marching on into the entrance, “Ok I get it. I pissed you off, but I’m sorry, I’ll never do it again, water under the bridge, now let’s kiss.” 

“No! No we’re not going to kiss! God do you honestly think that after all you did to me you actually think I’d go out with you or whatever it is you had in mind?!”

Damien falls silent. He doesn’t really know how to respond. He hasn’t really been that mean right? What is this feeling? Shame? Is he actually feeling ashamed of his actions? That’s the first. 

“Oz, I’m actually sorry.”

“Oh sure just apologize and you suddenly win me over. Is that what you think is going to happen?”

“What? No listen to me, I’m actually apologizing! I never do that!”

“So?”

“This should be a big fucking deal!”

“How would I know that? All I know about you is that you’re angry all the time and you like to punch things, including me!” They walk in before Damien gets a chance to respond. The second they step in they Here a stranger telling, “Freeze!”

True to his command the two freeze in place. Mainly from shock to see the buff guard pointing his taser at them. Damien instinctively pushes Oz behind him so they’re in a safer spot. In his most menacing voice, not really, he says, “Dude fuck off. We’re kind of busy here.” 

“Don’t move or I’m calling the police!”

“Yeah yeah I get. God you guys say the same shit all the time.”

“Damien duck!”

“What?” He turns and instantly ducks in time for Oz to chuck the bike to the guard. Apparently in the small amount of time when Damien and guard exchanged like two words, Oz rushed outside, grabbed the bike, and rushed back to throw it at the guard who’s now crushed under said bike. Oz takes Damien’s hand, “Let’s get Amira and go!” Now it’s their turn to drag Damien around the store. He’s too busy admiring their vicious attack to really be able to keep up on his own anyway. 

They waste time just trying to figure out where the security room could be. It feels like they’re in a maze. Like the ones with the boobytrapscause when they turn the corner the security guard appears to lunch Oz right in the jaw. They fall back into the floor with Damien standing by absoluting furious! So much so that he bursts into flames! 

The second Oz is down, Damien tackles the guard onto the ground. Fists fly, bites were given, I’m pretty sure his tail smacked the guard’s face at one point. All the while his fire spreads further onto the guard’s clothes. 

However things don’t look good for the monster when the guard gets the upper hand by pinning Damien onto the ground. Similar to how Oz did the first time they technically met. Now this is just a human. Damien could normally overpower him, but with his broken ribs being pressed against the floor, it ends up being more painful than he expected. He’s screaming out in pain as the guard is putting more wait on him. The taser in his hand slowly lowers. 

So this is it. This is how Damien LaVey dies, or like ends up in jail most likely. Many emotions are flowing through him right now. Angry that out of all things he’s going to jail at the hands of a human. Disappointed cause this night ended up flopping. But he’s mostly heart broken due to the fact that Oz doesn’t even like him as a monster, let alone like him enough to date him. Though he can’t really blame them. He has treated them very poorly. Maybe if he’s given a second chance he could start over. He’ll treat Oz better than any monster by not punching whenever he’s in a punchy mood. That’s a start right? Not that it matters. The sweet release of death comes as he feels the weight on his back leave. No wait, that’s just the guard no longer pinning him down. 

Confused, Damien lifts himself up only to double over in pain because his ribs are still fucking broken! Though the sound of utter terror fills the air and he just has to fight the pain to look at where it’s coming from. 

Right in front of him is the same eldritch horror that has been haunting his nightmares for the past week. Before those nightmares turned into wet dreams cause, ya know, that eldritch horror is Oz. Who is currently ripping the guard’s limbs off one by one before devouring them. In the real world, not in Damien’s dreams. 

Once all that is said in done, Oz forms back to their usual look while Damien just stares in awe. You can practically see the hearts hovering around him. 

“Holy shit I think I’m in love.”

“Shut the fuck up. We are getting you to a hospital!”

“I love how commanding you sound.”

“I said shut the fuck up!” With as much strength as they can manage, Oz lifts Damien up like a bride and tries to rush out of the store. For you see the fire that Damien caused has been spreading throughout the store. Fortunately Oz manages to find the exit with ease. 

Out in the parking lot, Oz sets Damien down onto the ground before the turn to try and go back in. 

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?”

“Amira’s still in there!”

“No I’m not.” 

They both turn to see said girl just chilling out here with a drink from who knows where, “Besides I’m immune to fire. I literally have fire burning on my head everyday.”

“Oh, right.” Oz sheepishly rubs the back of their neck. 

Damien takes no time to snap at her, “Where the hell have you been?”

“Right well I found the security room and guess what? They have a shit load of illegal fireworks stashed in there! I was gonna get them but I could hear you fuckers yelling from outside, so of course I had to go out to shut you guys up. But when I got there you two were already gone.”

“And the drink?”

“I got thirsty so I robbed a gas station.”

Oz turns to the buildings, “Wait you left the fireworks in this building? That’s currently burning?!”

As if on cue the building explodes in front of their eyes! All three scatter to dodge the falling debris. One nearly crushes Oz till Damien pushes him out of the way. Once it all quiets down they’re all left panting and shaking from the shock they surprisingly burst into laughter. Probably also from shock. 

“HOLY SHIT THAT WAS AWESOME!” 

Turns out they end up having their final explosion after all. Though of course the night doesn’t end there because they have to take Damien to the hospital. 

After a couple of hours chatting in there, Amira goes home once again leaving Oz alone with Damien. Though this time they don’t really feel all that scared about it. Instead they take that moment to say, “So uh, thanks for fighting for me, and saving me from being crushed. Also I’m sorry for what I said before.”

“No, shut the fuck up. You were right. I’ve been a complete dick to you. Well I’m a dick to everyone, but I actually like you, so I feel bad when I’m a dick to you.” Holy shit is Damien blushing right now? 

“Alright good cause that apology actually meant nothing.”

“Hey I’m trying to be nice here!”

“Yeah and I appreciate it so thanks.”

They go back to their awkward silence. Except not really cause Damien speaks up saying, “I want to go out with you.”

“Yeah I kind of figured you did.” 

“But you don’t want to date me.”

“Are you just going to keep stating the obvious?”

“Shut up I’m getting somewhere! Back there you said you didn’t know anything about me. And honestly other than you’re badass, and creative, and pretty fucking cute, I don’t really know you.”

“You think I’m badass?” Now it’s Oz’s turn to blush a little. This makes Damien smile even if it’s only a small one. 

“I’m just saying that we should hang out more. Just to get to know each other.”

Oz takes a second to think about it, “Alright, sure, but I’m not ever going out with you.”

“Fine.”

“Fine?”

“That’s what I said dumbass. What you think I’m just going to force you into a relationship? What kind of monster do you think I am,” he chuckles but stops because it hurts his ribs, “but seriously I just want to spend more time with you. That doesn’t mean you have to date me.” 

Huh, maybe Damien can be a bit nicer than Oz ever thought he would be. Maybe he has a point when he says they should hang out more. After all that small time they spent riding that bike was actually a lot of fun. And they actually find his not so witty comebacks pretty funny even if they don’t admit it. Who knows, maybe Damien even has a secret soft spot that a lot of bad boys have in the shows they watch. Either way they’re actually considering on giving him a second chance, “Alright.”

“Really?!”

“Yeah, let’s spend some time together.”

“Yeah! Are you free tomorrow?”

“Aren’t you going to be stuck here.”

“Exactly, you’re going to sneak me out!”

Oz can’t help but roll their eyes, but they giggle slightly as well, “Alright, sounds like a plan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank fucking god I got the chapter over with! Hopefully it turned out better than I thought it would. We’ll be back with Vicky and Laim’s shenanigans with the next chapter.


	7. Emotions are Confusing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam and Vicky just spend some time together...that’s it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like after the events that happened in the last chapter we deserve a small break. So this chapter is a bit more chill. It’s mainly so Vicky and Liam can bond a bit more.

Vicky is sitting at the food court of the mall reading the mountains of paragraphs she’s received from Oz detailing what happened on their night out yesterday. She eventually grew tired of reading by the time she got to the part about them crashing into Walmart, whatever that is. God, Oz’s messages are too long! It felt like she was reading a chapter out of a fanfic. 

Then again if this was a fanfic then Damien and Oz would definitely end up together. At least from the stories Vicky would write. It’s like the trope where the nerd and the hot bad boy hate each other only to fall in love later on. But let’s be honest, there is no way in hell Damien and Oz would ever end up together in real life. Besides Damien has to end up with Liam! It’s all planned out on Vicky’s shipping chart after all. 

Speaking of said shipping chart, Vicky has been scribbling notes in the margin as to how to get Damien to like Liam. Both her and said vampire have agreed that getting Polly’s number was a big victory, and Vicky can take it on from there. After all she can finally talk to her without coming off as a babbling mess. Ok well not completely, but she’s getting there. Luckily Liam said that he’ll be there if she ever needs him. That’s really sweet of him to say. Honestly over time, Vicky has been growing a liking towards the vampire. She feels like she’s been chipping away his hipster facade and seeing small fractures of the real him. And let’s just say that she really likes the real him. 

For days they would text each other ranting about how this movie is bad, or how that fandom needs to chill, or debate about which ship is better (it’s tododeku, fight me). Liam says that he does this out of irony, but Vicky knows for a fact that he enjoy these conversations. And she does too. It’s nice to finally have someone to gush to who isn’t Oz. Because at least Liam actually has her enthusiasm for fandom culture. He doesn’t show it, but the enthusiasm is there. 

Man thinking about Liam so much is making her wish he was here. And behold, her wish came true for Liam is making his way to the table! 

“Liam! What a coincidence, I was just thinking about you!”

“Funny, it’s almost as if we planned to meet up or something along those lines.”

“Oh hush you know what I mean. So, you got any plans to woo your darling prince of hell?”

“Well after doing heavy amounts of research to the point where I considered it incredibly unhealthy and borderline obsessive, I have come to two conclusions: I either commit an act of violence in front of him, or I become Prom king.”

“Huh? I get the act of violence part, but how would becoming prom king help?”

“Well it mainly comes from a conversation we had once where he said, and I quote, “Dude, I swear if you of all jag offs becomes fucking prom king, then I’ll tear you limb from limb.’ At first I found the threat off putting until I remembered that a lot of Damien’s relationships started with a fight followed by passionate love making in the bathrooms.”

“Haha, gross.”

“Gross indeed, which is why I’d rather go with the act of violence instead. Besides I kill people often enough just to eat. Also I have this persona to keep up. Becoming prom king will just ruin that.” 

“Ah, so you finally admit that this whole hipster thing is fake?”

“And by fake you mean this barrier I have set up in order to prevent others to know the real me because I’m much too afraid that they’d hate who I really am...then no, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” 

“Daw Liam, you can tell aunty Vicky anything! I promise I won’t tell another soul.” She takes his hands in her own to reassure him, but he promptly yanks them away. 

“I’d rather not share my deepest secrets to a lunatic.”

“But I’m your lunatic!” 

“No you’re not. You’re a person not property.”

“Shhhhhh, you know what I mean! But at least you passed the feminist test I guess.”

“Good, and besides, wouldn’t that be something you’d say to a lover?”

“Hmm not for me. I say that to Oz all the time. Cause they’re my best friend and I love them!”

“Ugh, genuine love and emotions are too mainstream.”

“You can drop the act.”

“It’s not an act.”

“But you called it a persona.”

“There’s a difference.”

“Is there?” 

She raises an eyebrow giving him a look that clearly says she’s not buying his bullshit. He doesn’t respond, which ironically says more than enough. 

Just to reassure him, she takes his hands in hers once again and says, “Liam I promise that the real you is wonderful.   
I love you dearly, and even if everyone else started to hate you, I definitely won’t.” Obviously the ‘I love you,’ part was platonic. After all Vicky is the kind of girl who would say I love you to any person that’s remotely nice to her. Still she meant what she said and Liam knows that as he feels his chest swell up with confusing emotions. 

They stay like that for a little bit. Their hands are together with Vicky smiling brightly at Liam whose face is getting redder and redder by the second. However once he snaps back to his senses he quickly pulls his hands away and stands up, “Alright all this sincerity is getting annoying. Let’s go mock people for their poor fashion choices, so I can wash all these touching and sweet moments off my body.” 

She stands up as well, “Maaaan, why do you have to make my natural kindness sound like a disease?”

“Because it feels like one. It’s like your own kindness infects me and makes me want to say something nice in return.”

She giggles, “I think that’s supposed to be a good thing.” She gives him a grin to playfully mock him. That grin only makes Liam’s face go red again, so he turns to walk off. Vicky of course follows close behind as she continues to pester him on how he shouldn’t be afraid to be himself and such just to get a reaction. 

They do end up mocking some people and their poor excuse of a fashion sense. Ok well Liam mocked them while Vicky shouted compliments over to the monsters. Only for Liam to try to quiet her because he dislikes all the attention they’re getting from the other monsters. He does so by covering her mouth with his hand. Though what with Vicky being the immature woman she is, she licks his hand in order to get him to move it out of the way. It works obviously. She even gets the funny bonus of seeing Liam desperately trying to wipe his hands onto his clothes to get rid of the germs. Then he starts freaking out cause he got his clothes dirty with her germs. 

The view of seeing the stoic and reclusive Liam act all disgusted in such an over dramatic manner causes Vicky to burst out laughing. Soon enough we have a vampire wailing about gross germs and having ruined his attire while this walking corpse is actually on the floor laughing her ass off. Ok she’s not literally laughing her ass off. And now they’re drawing even more attention than before, which just ever so slightly triggers Liam’s anxiety and, oh god it’s just a fucking mess. A wonderful mess of two young adults freaking out in the middle of a mall, so honestly it’s really just an average day for any of the monsters who regularly go there. 

Soon enough a security guard comes by telling the two they are causing a scene and must leave immediately. She says it in a way the feels rehearsed. Almost like she’s used to kicking annoying monsters out, and that pretty much is the case. And what also seems to be the a common case is that Vicky and the rest of the color squad are usually the ones that get kicked out, so obviously she wasn’t surprised that the girl was once again being thrown out. 

Now our lovely leads are standing out in the parking lot. Liam has calmed down, but Vicky still has a bit of giggles left in her, “You should have seen your face. You were all like, ‘Ahhh, gross!! Get it off me, get it off me!!.’” She mimics his gestured in an exaggerated manner, except can I really say it was exaggerated when she pretty much nailed his overreaction? 

Liam pulls out his umbrella, I have no idea where he keeps it, and opens it up so that the sun doesn’t burn him, “Hilarious.”

“Oh come on don’t be a stick in the mud. That was actually funny!” 

“I doubt that making a fool of ourselves in front of many monsters was hilarious. You just have a terrible sense of humor.”

“Well at least I have one! You know what, I’m gonna make it my mission to make you laugh today.”

“No.” 

He begins to walk away but of course, Vicky just follows right behind him, “So where are we going now? The night is still young. Mainly because it’s still day.” 

He ignores her and only walks faster. Vicky actually needs to pick up her speed a bit in order to keep up, “Hey are you actually mad? I’m sorry, I just thought it was funny.” He keeps walking. 

They eventually end up at a small cafe. Imagine Starbucks just minus the brand name. Cause let’s be honest, Liam would never go to such a mainstream and basic cafe. Even though the one they’re at is basically a copycat. 

Even now Vicky is still desperately apologizing. Though this time she’s keeping her voice down so that no more attention would be drawn toward the two, “Liiiiiiaaaaaaam! I’m so so so so soooo sooorryyyy.” 

He just stays quiet. He’s been quiet the whole time they were there. Only speaking to order his coffee. Vicky absolutely hates the silent treatment, “Look, we can just move to a cave together where no one can ever look at us ever again! Just please for the love of god talk to me!”

“...Caves are too mainstream for me. Let’s just move to the Marianas Trench.” He couldn’t keep the silent treatment up. He just didn’t like seeing Vicky so upset. Would he ever admit that? Pfft, no. Though it’s mainly because he doesn’t really know why he feels this way. Nor does he know why her overjoyed reaction makes him want to smile. 

“Oh thank god you’re not mad anymore! I almost want to hug you, but I know you’ll be uncomfortable. Would an air hug work?”

It’s becoming harder to fight back that smile, “No.”

“Alright that’s fine...sorry, again.”

“You can stop apologizing. Seriously, it’s getting annoying.”

“Man why do you have to be rude all the time? I take back all of my apologies now!”

“So does that mean I have to go back to giving you the silent treatment?”

Her cheeks puff out from anger, and god damn it he can’t help it! She just looks so silly right now. A small chuckle escape his lips though he quickly shuts up. Not quick enough cause Vicky instantly gasps right after, “You laughed!”

“No I didn’t!”

“Yeah you did!”

“It was a chuckle. There’s a difference!”

“No there’s not!”

“You want me to pull out a dictionary? I will!”

“No because I know I’m right! You laughed, and I win!”

“Win what? We weren’t even playing a game!”

“Hey yeah, let’s play a game.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“No shh, how about Never Have I Ever?”

“I’m not playing that.”

“Come on, it’s just to pass the time.”

“No.”

“Please?”

“No.”

“Pleeeeaaaase?”

“No. Besides whatever you’ll mention, there’s a good chance I’ve already done it. Therefor no matter what I’ll just loose.”

“Pfft, there’s no way you’ve done everything! 400 years isn’t that old...maybe.”

“Alright then let’s play. Not because I want to, but just to prove a point.”

“Sweet!” They go head and put their hands up, “I’ll start! Ok, never have ever…” She’s trying to think of something out there. Something that she’s sure the vampire hasn’t done, “Um, been a pirate!”

He puts a finger down.

“Seriously??”

“Yep. Around 1778. It was mostly so I didn’t have to be a part of the Revolutionary War.”

“That’s so cool! You have to tell me some stories about your cool pirate adventures!”

Liam could feel a small sense of pride in his chest. There’s something about Vicky thinking he’s cool that makes him happy. Except it shouldn’t. Cause being cool means you’re mainstream or whatever the fuck. He just shouldn’t care about her opinion. And he doesn’t!...Yep. 

“Alright my turn. Never have I ever gambled my soul just to impress a girl.”

“Ok not fair, I’ve told you that story before.”

“You never said we had to play fair.”

“Fine! Never have I ever fallen for a demon.”

“Never have I ever lost my arm in gym.”

“Never have I ever drank someone’s blood.”

“Never have I ever had green skin.”

“Never have I ever had PURPLE skin!”

They keep going on like this. It essentially becomes a shouting match. All the other customers have grown annoyed and left to drink their coffee in peace. Even the barista went out back to take a break. Eventually, Liam looses and Vicky immediately stands up and shouts, “VICTORY!” Which startles poor Liam. She giggles and sits back down, “Sorry.”

The two have finished their drinks, and are now just chatting about whatever. They jump from topic to topic. Well it’s mainly Vicky who keep switching subjects. She can’t really talk about one thing for too long without getting distracted and switching to another topic. Liam found it annoying at first when they first started texting one another. It’s like they’d be talking about their plans to woo their respective monsters, and then suddenly they’d start debating which ship is better (it’s Kiribaku, obviously). He did get used to it eventually. And by eventually, I mean right now. Mainly because Vicky’s facial expressions are just very endearing to look at. She wears her emotions on her sleeves, and it’s just adorable at how excited she looks when she’s talking about something she’s passionate about. Which right now is this new anime she’s watching. Something about robots, a girl with pink hair, and sex. Liam wasn’t really paying attention...Were Vicky’s eyes always this mesmerizing? 

“So?”

“What?”

“The pirate stories! You gotta tell me at least one!”

“I’d rather not.”

“Oh come on, you know I’m just going to wake you up in the middle of the night asking for the stories. Might as well get the annoying part out of the way, right?”

She has a point. With a groan he says, “Fine. But in order to make this story immersive you’re going to have to play the kraken.”

“...what?”

And boy what a story it was! Liam sure knows how to make it feel like they actually traveled back in time to the golden age of the pirates. And Vicky could have won an Oscar on her performance. When the barista came back, he ran outside again thinking she was an actual kraken. Man if only you guys could hear it. It was so cool. 

If only I could replicate the tale. And I could but I don’t wanna, so you guys are just going to have to imagine what happened yourselves. 

By the time they put all of their props back, no I have no idea where they got them in the first place, Vicky noticed how dark it is outside. She checked the time and was surprised to find that it’s almost eleven. 

“Geez, we’ve been here for a while.”

“I blame it on the story. It did take around a couple of hours to tell.”

“But it was sooooo worth it! I still can’t believe you sunk a whole island!”

“It was an accident.”

“An awesome accident!”

“Well I doubt the crew members that were left there would agree with that statement.”

“Eh, they were dicks anyway.”

“We all were. Pirates were just dicks in general.” 

“Are you two going to leave? We were supposed to close an hour ago.”

They turn to see the barista back and looking completely done. Just done and tired, and desperately wanting to go home. 

“Why didn’t you just kick us out,” Liam questions.

“I didn’t really want to ruin your date. Seemed like you two were having fun...so yeah.” 

Great, yet another monster who believes that they’re dating. Like any main leads in a high school movie, Liam and Vicky both awkwardly deny that they are together. Flustered stutters and all. 

So now they’re standing outside the cafe just feeling a bit embarrassed. Vicky takes a look down the road toward her apartment, “Right well, guess I’ll be off.”

“On your own? Absolutely not, I’m walking you home.”

“ Liam that’s not necessary. I can handle being by myself.”

“Rude as I may be, I’m not just going to let a lady walk alone at night. Who knows what could happen.”

“Oooohhh, Liam I didn’t know you care about me!”

“I don’t! I’m just a gentleman, and a gentleman shouldn’t just let you walk home alone.” 

“Yeah sure whatever. I know that you care about me.” 

Liam just goes ahead and leads the way without another word. Though it’s obvious at this point that he really does care about Vicky. Though to be honest, the main reason he wanted to walk her home was so he could spend just a tiny bit more time with her. But this doesn’t mean anything. The way he feels towards Vicky is the same way he feels towards Miranda. Just this close friend that he actually enjoys the company of. Or at the very least doesn’t complete hate being around. That totally explains the figurative warmth he feels when he’s around her, right? 

“We’re here!”

Liam is snapped out of his thoughts. He looks up at the large building, “Oh, so we are.”

“Yep, you can let go of my hand now.”

“What?!”

He looks down and sees that their hands are tangled together. He pulls them away, “Why didn’t you say anything?!”

She shrugs, “I guess I’m just used to it. Oz used to hold my hand all the time when we were young. That’s cause I got, well still get, distracted easily and I’d wander off. They still do it out of habit.” 

“Oh well inform me next time. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable or anything.”

“Nah you’re good!” She steps towards the door but turns back around, “Oh I almost forgot! I made you a present!”

“You did?”

“Yeah, ok wait here, I’ll be quick!”

She hurried into the building before Liam could say anything. Why the hell would she go out of her way just to make him a present. While a small part of him is grateful, he mainly feels guilty. Almost as if she just wasted her time making something for him. Why did she even bother in the first place?

Soon enough, Vicky is back with a canvas in her hands. She’s all giddy when she says, “Ok close your eyes.”

“Just show me your gift.”

“Ok ok fine,” she turns the canvas around, “Tada!”

It’s painting of a girl sitting by a tree looking up into the sky. What gives it an artistic touch are the sea creatures flying in the sky. Most noticeably the great blue whale covering most of the painting. The entire piece itself gives off this whimsical feeling. Liam was very impressed to say the least.

“You made this?”

“Yeah! While I was painting it I was thinking that you would really like it, so here.” She hands it to him, but he pushes it back,

“I can’t take it, you must have worked hard on it.”

“No it’s fine. I have a lot of other paintings just sitting in my room, and I didn’t want this one to go to waste.”

“Then why not give it to Polly, or anyone else?”

“Well it’s mainly a thank you gift. For helping me so much, and even just putting up with me. I know I can be a bit much.”

Well now he feels guilty for all the times he called her annoying. And while she can be overwhelming at the end of the day, literally, Liam has to admit that he really enjoys Vicky’s company. So with a small smile he carefully takes the canvas making sure he won’t ruin it, “Thank you.”

Vicky smiles back brightly, “You should smile more. You look cute.” After a pause she says, “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow then.” 

She walks back in leaving our vampire as a blushing mess in the middle of the street.


	8. Denial

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oz and Vicky have a little argument that leads to the former needing to spend time with a demon, and the latter asking Polly out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nice to finally get myself back to the main plot.

“What do you mean you haven’t read my texts?!”

“Well sorry, but they were really long. Also Liam showed up and I didn’t want to be rude by ignoring him.”

Vicky and Oz are sitting together at lunch. They’re alone again because Amira is off with Vera doing something illegal and Brian is still missing. Normally the gang would be worried that he’s gone, but it’s really common for the zombie to just disappear. It usually means he’s not important to the main story so he’s having his own adventure off screen. 

“Ugh, well I guess I’ll just tell the story right now from beginning to end. Ok so-“

“Shut up, Polly is coming,” she stands up to waves at her, “Hey Polly!”

“Hey boo! Just the girl I wanted to see.” She floats over, “So there’s going to be this dope ass party this Friday. You wanna come?”

On my god. Polly has asked Vicky to hang out with her! This is the moment Vicky has been waiting for years! She almost wants to pinch herself cause this must be dream. Except no, it’s not. Here’s her crush actually asking her out!

“Yeah I would love to go! You have no-wait you said Friday?”

“Yeah.”

“Oooohhhh, um. I’m sorry but I actually plan to go shopping with Liam. We plan to pick our prom outfits.”

“Oh,” Polly visibly deflates a little. Vicky actually feels bad and decides to reconsider, but Polly quickly bounces back to her usual self, “It’s cool. We can just chill another time. Maybe smoke some weed in the bathrooms.”

“Oh I don’t really,”

But before Vicky could finish, Polly is already off looking for another companion to take to the party, “Yo Scott! You wanna go to a killer party?!”

Off in the corner they could hear an excited, “Do I?!!”

Vicky sits back down and turns back to face Oz. She’s met with a flabbergasted face. They even went through the trouble of forming an open mouth to hit home the fact that they are shocked. She only tilts her head in confusion, “What?”

“You just turned her down.”

“Yeah, so what?”

“Ok let me rephrase that. You turned down Polly, the girl that you’ve had a major crush on for years, after she finally asked you out! Just weeks ago you’d be willing to gamble your damn soul for this woman, and now there she was asking you to go to a party and you turned her down! And for what? Just so you can go shopping with Liam?!”

“W-well I just want to be prepared for prom. It’s not easy picking the perfect dress ya know. Is that is problem?”

“No it’s just, it’s just I’m shocked.” 

They both go quiet, and in those few moments of silence, Vicky has fully processed what went down, “HOLY SHIT I TURNED HER DOWN!” 

“Shhhh!” Oz covers her mouth not wanting to draw attention to themselves again. Seriously that one time with Amira was more than enough embarrassment. They cautiously remove it hoping that their friend won’t go back to yelling out her words again. 

“I turned her down.”

“Yep.”

“Holy shit I turned her down.”

“Yeah I get it.”

“Oz,” she grabs the collar of their shirt and shakes them, “I fucking turned Polly Geist down!”

“Ok god stop shaking me!” They push her hands back, “The more you say it, the less surprising it sounds.”

But Oz’s words are not getting to her. She flops her head onto the table, “Why the hell would I do that?”

They merely shrug, “I don’t know. I guess you’d rather spend time with Liam, which isn’t really all that surprising.”

She turns her head to look at them, “What do you mean?”

“Well you two have spending a looooooot of time together. Even when you’re not with him, you’re texting him about whatever.”

“That’s just cause we’re helping each other get our prom dates! We’re just like business partners.”

“I don’t know. From what you told me about what you guys did yesterday it sure as hell didn’t sound like you two were just talking business.”

“Well we just needed a small break from all that planning! Is that wrong?!”

“Geez no, that’s not what I’m saying! Why are you getting defensive?”

“I’m not getting defensive!” She slams her hands on the table out of panic. This spooks Oz causing them to flinch. Vicky immediately feels bad and goes back to slumping down on her chair, “Sorry.”

They go back to sitting in silence. Though this time it’s a bit awkward. Both because of the tension and cause of a couple of monsters that looked over their way out of concern and curiosity. 

This gives Oz time to think things over. As to exactly why Vicky has been acting this way. Why she’s constantly texting Liam, spending time with him, and when he’s not around, talk about him. Honestly it’s like Liam has replaced Polly since back then it would be the ghost girl that their friend would constantly gush about...Oh. 

“Um, Vicky?”

“Hm?”

“Ok so please don’t get mad when I say this. I just want to let you know that this is just a suggestion, and this isn’t necessarily the exact truth.”

“Ehhhh please stop building up the tension.”

“Um...ok but I think that maybe, MAYBE, you might have a small, tiny, crush on Liam.”

Vicky doesn’t say anything at first. It’s clear that she’s replaying Oz’s words over and over to fully process what they said. Once it does her face goes so red that it could even rival Damien’s. For a second, Oz hoped this meant they helped their friend with her little struggle, but that hope was quickly dashed away when she once again slammed her her hands onto the table, “I don’t have a crush on Liam!”

“I-I didn’t say you do. I was just suggesting that as a possibility.”

“Well I don’t ok? I do not, and never will have a crush on Liam! It doesn’t matter that we have common interests, or that he’s there to help me even when I have the tiniest of problems. Nor do I care about the subtle ways he shows how much he cares about me, or the fact that I love seeing his reaction to all the times I annoy him. And I sure as hell don’t care about HIS CUTE BAT EARS!” 

By the time she finished she was basically panting because she forgot to breathe during her little rant. Oz also has been scooting away to the point that they’re balancing at the edge of their seat. 

“I mean, from how it sounds you do seem to like him a tiny bit.”

She practically gave them a death glare, “I don’t! I have a crush on Polly! And I’ll prove it,” and she stands up and turns to where the ghost is sitting, “Hey Polly!” 

She turns and quickly flies over to Vicky, “Yeah girl?”

“I still can’t make it Friday, but how about we go to a club tonight!”

Oz jumps up when they here the time, “But we’re supposed to have our little movie night tonight.”

She waves her hand dismissively, “That’s fine we can just do it another night.” 

They slump back down into their seat. They’re not even going to try to argue with her. Especially not when she’s in this state. 

Polly doesn’t pay any mind to their exchange. To be honest all she heard was “club” and “tonight”, and those words are more than enough to get her hyped, “Oh hell yeah we’re going to a club tonight! I knew you’d come around, boo!” 

Before Vicky could give out details like ya know, exactly when and where they’re going, Polly floats off yammering on about tonight’s event. Still Vicky seems satisfied enough and sits back down, “See, I just asked her out, so of course I like her.”

Oz only rolls their eyes, “I mean, you shouldn’t have to to prove that you like someone if you actually like them. But sure just throw away our night to keep up your delusions.” It’s clear that they’re pissed, but Vicky pays no mind to their obvious anger,

“Well, it’s not a delusion! So there!” She sticks her tongue out at them.

“Yeah alright. I guess I’ll just hang out with Damien instead.”

“Exactly, you and Damien can-wait, Damien?! Don’t you hate him?”

“Well if you actually bothered to read my messages yesterday then you would know that we’re actually pretty good friends now.”

“Oh...oh this is perfect! You can be like and undercover spy! Can you scoop up some intel? Like what does Damien like in a man? I’m assuming violence is in that answer, but there has to be more than that!”

“Ok no, I’m not going to be a part of your scheme. I don’t know what he has to do with it, but I don’t care.” They get up to leave, but as what always seems to be the case, Vicky just follows them continuing to ask questions about the demon. 

__________

Later in the afternoon Oz called up Damien to ask if they could hang out. After one enthusiastic, “fuck yeah,” later, the two are now at the good ol junkyard. This is the third time they ended up there. When Oz broke Damien out of the hospital yesterday, they spent time there as well. Thanks to his convenient demonic powers, Damien managed to heal his broken ribs quickly. 

And now here they are again. With Oz violently throwing broken cars across the place, “And she just fucking goes on with her dumb plan to woo Polly! It’s as if my own damn feelings don’t even matter!” They chuck another car across the yard. It goes so far that neither of them can see it, but they can hear a loud crash as it lands onto the ground. 

Damien is finding this very entertaining. And of course seeing Oz throw these cars around like it’s nothing is a bit of a turn on. Though that is being replaced with anger when he listens to their story, “Fuck man that sucks.” He himself has brought a bat to knock some things around as well. Though as he’s breaking some shit, he can’t help but stare in awe as the fearling violently vents their frustration. 

“It really does! She’s been like this for over a week and and I fucking hate it,” they kick a barrel sending it flying, “God why can’t we just go back to watching shitty movies together while eating way too many junk food, or going on some adventure around town and doing something dumb and reckless.” Their tone shifts to something more akin to sadness. With a heavy sign they sit down on a broken couch, “But lately it’s like I don’t even matter anymore. Anytime we’re together she just goes on and on about her dumb plan or gushing about the vampire. It’s always, ‘Liam this and Liam that.’ Doesn’t have a crush my ass.” They kick a can away though not as violently. It was more of like a defeated kick. 

Damien is quick to drop his bat and rush to their side as he joins them on the couch. Problem is that they don’t really know how to comfort people. So he just does what his dads would normally do in this situation and pats them on the back, “Uhhhh, there there?”

Oz raises an eyebrow, “I know you said that you’re going to try to be nicer to me, but this is just pathetic.”

“Well excuse me for being shit at this! I was never taught to be kind and compassionate!” 

“Well I mean, you are trying, which is something at least.” 

Damien only slumps further into the couch and growls. A noise that Oz would never admit is hot, but it honestly is. They lean back as well and even scoots closer just to get more comfortable. They stay like that for a little bit. Just two monster inches away from each other sitting in silence. It’s actually comforting until the demon breaks that silence, “God why can’t those two just fuck and make your life easier?!”

This earns a chuckle from the other monster, “Man I wish it was that easy, but for some reason Vicky goes out of her way to make things more complicated for herself.”

“Is it really that hard to just ask someone out? I’ll answer that; no it’s not! For example: wanna go out?”

“No.”

“You’re killing me, Oz. I’m trying to make a point here.” 

Their small chuckle grows, “You’re ridiculous. But yeah you still have a point. I just wish more people were as bold as you.”

Damien smirks at the comment, “You wish people were more like me?”

Oz takes only a second to think about that, “Nevermind. I don’t want to world to implode on itself.” 

They both go on to laugh at that joke. Oz calms down, “Funny, you actually helped me feel better. Thanks”

“No problem. I am the best at comforting other after all.”

“Yeah ok, no need to stroke your own ego there.”

“True, that’s mainly your job. More emphasis on the stroking part if ya catch my drift.”

Oz lightly punches them on the arm, “Gross”

Damien punches them back only a bit harsher. Oz gives his arm another hit, and the next thing you know they’re wrestling on the couch. And like a lot of playful wrestling in fanfics, it’s pretty fucking gay. Also like a lot of gay fanfics they end up in a pretty compromising position with Oz above Damien practically straddling him. They pin his arms above his head, “You can’t ever win a fight against me, can you?” Anyone could see the nonexistent smirk on their face. 

“Watch it yellow, I could always take you by surprise.”

“Yellow?”

“Yeah, cause you wear a lot of yellow and shit.”

“You’re terrible at giving nicknames.”

“Yeah well you’re terrible at not being such a smartass!”

“You’re also shit at comebacks.”

“Fuck off, having you on top of me is making it hard to think!”

“Oh right, sorry about that.” They make a move to get off, but Damien slithers his tail around their waist, 

“The hell you think you’re doing? I never said I wanted you to move.”

A heavy blush covers Oz’s face, “Damien just let me move.” 

With a smirk the demon moves his tail. However Oz doesn’t try to move from their spot. They’re not sure if it’s because they’re too embarrassed to move, or if it’s because they actually don’t want to. It’s probably both. They do however realize they they’re still pinning Damien down and lets go. This proves to be a mistake as he instantly has his arms wrap around Oz’s waist and pulls them down into a bear hug.

“Ahh, Damien let go!” Despite their words, Oz is actually giggling. They sound joyful. Damien is also laughing though it sounds more like a dumb cackle,

“Finally, I actually won!”

“But we’re not even fighting, you’re just hugging me!”

“Same difference.”

“Hearing that actually concerns me.” Oz calms down and lets their arms sway on the side of the couch. 

“Oh relax, I actually know the difference.”

“Oh, so you’re not as dumb as you seem.”

“Hey watch it!” He unintentionally growls against their ear causing Oz to shiver slightly. Fortunately that went unnoticed. 

The demon loosens his grip on the other monster. Oz then lifts their head so they can look at him. Their foreheads are touching, and Damien is fighting against the urge to just lean up and kiss them. He can’t. At least not without Oz letting him know that it’s ok. Besides even if they did he has know idea how kissing a mouthless monster would work out. 

Oz realizes how tired they are after all their venting and lets out a yawn. That in turn answers Damien’s question about the whole mouth situation. He can see several rows of sharp teeth. It looks as if even the tiniest touch could prick a finger. Funny how everyday, Damien is discovering more reasons to love Oz. Who is now laying their head on his chest, 

“Hey hope you don’t mind if I just take a quick nap.” The second they finish that sentence they are out. Once again Damien has no idea what to do in this situation. He can feel his face burning. Literally. His face is so hot that a small fire starts on one side of his cheek. He quickly puts it out by punching his own face. 

Right now all he can do is let Oz rest as he looks up at the serene blue sky.   
—————

It’s easy to say that Vicky isn’t really the biggest fan of clubs. At least not when she’s sober, which she is at the moment. When she’s drunk on the other hand, some could say that she’s more of a party animal than Polly. Speaking of, the ghost girl is having the time of her life on the dance floor. All the while Vicky is sitting by the bar just watching not really in the mood to join her. 

All day her mind has been clouded with that conversation her and Oz had earlier today. A small part of it was her mentally slapping herself for the way she treated Oz. For how she’s been treating them. Only after the school day ended did she realize how shitty her actions were. She literally cancelled their night together just because she wanted to prove that she still likes Polly. 

And does she? Back then anytime Polly did anything it looked like it was the coolest thing in the world. Partying till the break of dawn? Cool. Do so many drugs that it could kill a man? Cool. Ignoring society’s views of decency and marching to the beat of her own drum? Actually that is still pretty cool of her. But still, it’s like Vicky took off her rose colored glasses for the first time and saw Polly for who she really is rather than the version she desperately wanted to date. And it’s not that the real Polly is bad. No, she is a lot of fun to be around, but she’s also pretty overwhelming. Seriously half the time they were at the club she was worried about Polly nearly getting herself killed before remembering she’s a ghost. So this must be what Oz has to deal with. 

Basically, Polly is good enough as a friend, but having her as a lover just feels like too much. Like Vicky won’t be able to handle her chaotic nature everyday. Hell, she can barely handle her own chaotic nature. 

“Why the long face dear?”

Vicky turns to find the source of that familiar voice. 

Miranda is sitting by her with two serfs standing guard behind her. 

“Miranda? What are you doing here?”

“Oh well I have simply decided to enjoy my evening here. Yes, that’s it. I’m am definitely not in search of a runaway serf in order to bring him back and execute him.”

Vicky doesn’t bring the serf thing thinking that it would lead to her own execution, “O-oh, well nice to know that you’re letting loose tonight.” 

“Indeed and as I wait here, I mean, spend my time here, I am looking through my plan book to see what else I need to accomplish.” She presents a very sparkly pink notebook and places it on the table. Not before one of the serfs places a napkin so that the notebook doesn’t directly touch the table below. Miranda flips through the pages as Vicky scans at some of the plans. A lot of them have to do with overthrowing the air people and just general kingdom ruling stuff. However one specific title catches Vicky’s eyes, 

“Wait go back. What’s this?”

“Oh? Well it’s my ‘Make Liam Popular Again,’ plan. Why do you ask?”

“Oh no, I just saw his name and got curious...so why do you want to make him popular?”

“Well I’m a princess, which means I’m the most popular lady in my kingdom, and I’m as happy as can be. So of course I thought if Liam was more popular then he will be happy as well.”

“Daw, that’s actually sweet.”

“Of course. I do care about him after all.”

Right. Miranda and Liam do spend a bit of time together, so it’s really not that much of a surprise to find out that they’re friends. Or at least have Miranda think they’re friends. Vicky is not really sure where Liam stands in this relationship. Still, it’s sweet to know that Miranda wants to see the vampire happy. 

And so does Vicky. To be honest she never really liked the idea of Liam and Damien ending up together. Now the idea puts a sour taste in her mouth. Though it can’t be jealousy. That would imply that she likes Liam, and she totally doesn’t! Still, as much as she hates the idea, Liam does want to be with Damien. So if that’s what makes him happy then Vicky has no problem continuing with the plan to help set those two up. 

Still something about Miranda’s plan seem to hit a cord with Vicky. Maybe if Liam becomes popular enough he could become prom king, and if that happens, and Liam is right about this, it will lead to him and Damien hooking up and eventually start a relationship together! Clearly this is a great idea that won’t backfire!

“Miranda!”

“Hm?” She’s scribbling things down in her notebook.

“Can I join your, ‘Make Liam Popular Again, scheme?”

“Oh, I’ve already been writing down your role in the operation, but I’m glad to see how enthusiastic you are about it.” 

Wait, was Miranda just going to force Vicky to help her with the operation. Good thing she wants to help her regardless. 

“Well yeah! Anything to make him happy.”

Yes anything. Even if it means he ends up with a monster who doesn’t deserve someone as great as him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes this is going to lead with the Prom King ending. Though a lot of it is going to be glossed over for more original content. As well as completely rewriting the third event. So yeah, this is going to be fun.


	9. Operation: Let’s Break My Own Heart in Order to Make Liam Happy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Operation: Make Liam Popular Again is already halfway done. Just a few more steps until Liam is prom king, loved by many, and well, popular. In the meantime let us take a break as Vicky and Polly have a chat inche bathrooms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is going to be a bit shorter, so sorry about that. To be honest I have no idea where I’m going to be going from here. It’s fine, I’ll figure it out.

Oz has been spending a lot of time with Damien these past few days. Just last night they broke into an orphanage and freed the children from their abusive caretakers, and all of that was just an accident. Damien just wanted to take Oz on a typical date; dinner and then a shit ton of arson. 

Well Damien has been calling their outings dates. It was mainly to tease Oz, but he also hopes that they see these moments as the same thing. It’s clear that the shadow monster doesn’t hold any romantic feelings for the demon, or so he thought. 

See right now, Oz is lying in the middle of the living room floor having the biggest romantic crises of their life. They might actually have feelings for Damien. At they think they’re romantic feelings. The last time Oz had a crush on anyone was years ago, and it ended with said monster not speaking to them for two years. But that’s a story for another time. Right now Oz thinks they might like Damien back, and they don’t really know how to handle the situation. So they decided to just overthink the whole ordeal for a good solid hour. 

Amira walked in on this and honestly feels sorry for their friend. She gives their leg a small nudge, “You good there?”

“I think I like Damien.”

“Yeah you’ve been muttering that for the ten minutes I’ve been here.” While speaking she’s putting on a jacket that used to belong to the demon, “So are you going to do anything about it?”

“I...I don’t know. I mean aren’t we already dating? He keeps saying that we’re on a date, but I don’t know if he’s being serious. Either way I really like the ‘dates’ we go on. Not to mention that he’s been there for me when Vicky has been off doing hell knows what. And I straight up took a nap on top of him! I mean, we can’t be just friends after all we’ve done together!” 

“Sounds like you two have this unspoken thing.”

“Unspoken thing?

“Right so have you ever heard of Cheers?”

Before Oz could answer, the front door bursts open with Vicky rushing in. She’s wearing a white button up shirt and maroon pants, “Does anyone have suspenders,” she desperately asks. 

Both Oz and Amira shake their heads though they’re mainly staring at her, confused by their friend’s attitude. Besides Vicky isn’t really listening because she’s too busy throwing furniture around just to look for the one item they most likely don’t own, “Oh come on! How can I make a convincing Liam costume if I don’t even have suspenders?!!” 

At the sound of his name, Oz rolls their eyes and lays back down. Only Amira bothers to question her, “Liam costume?”

Vicky freezes and turns so fast it could cause whiplash, “Glad you asked! See I’m trying to make Liam popular. First I hacked into his Instagram and posted porn on there, like you do. And now I need him to run for prom king, but there’s no way he’d ever do that. So instead I’ll be dressing up as him and announce that I, well he, will be running for it. It’s brilliant don’t ya think?!” 

Ok even Oz can’t stay quiet after hearing that. They sit up once again and asks, “I’m sorry, but why are you doing all of this? He can just run himself.”

“Cause it’s Liam! He has that stupid hipster thing to keep up, so he won’t ever want to run for prom king himself cause then he’ll be popular.”

“But you’re trying to make him popular!”

“Yeah but I’m doing it behind his back so he doesn’t know!” 

“But- ok no whatever. I don’t caaaaaaaare!” They get up and walk over to their room and slams the door. Vicky is honestly a bit surprised by their attitude. Sure Oz questions her actions a lot, but they normally don’t storm out in anger. Is she making them upset? Doesn’t matter now, she still needs suspenders!

“Amira do you have any-,”

“No hun, I don’t. Just go buy some like a normal monster,” She walks out the door and slugs a heavy backpack onto her, “Now if you excuse me, I’m going on a search for our zombie boy.” With that she closes the door leaving Vicky alone to fend for herself. 

_________

The announcement that Liam is going to be running for prom king went surprisingly well, and Vicky is a bit shocked. She looks and sounds nothing like him, but luckily most of the students are dumb enough to buy it, and she’s sure that those who aren’t don’t really care enough to call her out. Also she got really lucky that Liam decided to skip school that day. Apparently he said something about having a romantic crises, and he can’t really face her nor Damien today. Blah blah blah, confusion, blah blah, emotions suck, blah. Vicky is too focused on the operation to really read his messages thoroughly. 

Once Vicky has changed back to her usual clothes she meets up with Miranda in the hallway. The princess is bouncing up and down while clapping excitedly, “That was amazing! I even beloved you were Liam for a second.”

Only further proof that the dumb ones fell for it. Not that Vicky would ever say that outloud. Hell she wanted to slap herself for even thinking that. But to be fair she’s been stressed from working on the operation and dealing with the strange feelings she has every single damn time Liam pops into her head, so; clearly, she hasn’t been in the best of moods either, “I’m just glad that I got that speech over with.” 

She tries to give her usual triumphant grin, but it comes off obviously forced. Not obvious enough for Miranda who already has her pink notebook opened up, “It seems that much more people have gained a liking to him than I expected. We are many steps ahead! Oh how sad, I really wanted to see him save a cat from a rushing waterfall.”

“Don’t you mean a tree?”

“Oh please it won’t be as heroic that way. Not that we need to do that plan anymore. Hmm,” she places her pen up to her lips, “I’m going to need to find something else that will gain him more popularity. Take a break, dear. I need to think.” 

She walks off, and the second she turned the corner, Vicky drops to the floor and slumps against the lockers. For days she’s been helping Miranda with Operation: Make Liam Popular Again. And by help, she’s been doing all of the hard work while Miranda, ironically enough, serves as the mastermind sitting backstage and watching the plans unfold. For someone who’s not that smart she is pretty good at taking charge and barking orders. Then again she’s a princess. What else do you expect?

But the point is that Vicky is tired, grumpy, and stressed as all bloody hell. Other than the speech as well as the porn she posted, poor girl has been doing other small errands for the mermaid that should help make Liam popular. It’s just those two plans specifically that Vicky can remember. Coffee is the only thing flowing through her veins. 

What’s worse is that she knows she’s not going to be happy with the end results. Sure Liam will be happy with Damien, but he sure as hell doesn’t deserve him! Liam doesn’t belong with someone who’s such a violent brute. He should be with someone who’s much nicer to him. Someone with similar interests. Someone he can spend hours chatting with. Someone who brings a joyful aura. Like the sun to his rainy cloud. Someone who can make him smile even when it’s hard for anyone else to try to do so-fuck she’s describing herself again. Why does this keep happening when she goes on these tangents? 

“Watcha’ doing looking all down in the dumps?”

Vicky looks up to find Polly hovering upside down above her.

“Oh nothing. Just doing a bunch of stuff to make Liam happy. Like I have been for who knows how many weeks by now.”

“Daw, gotta do anything for your boyfriend right?”

“We’re not dating!” Vicky is quick to cover her mouth after that small explosion. Polly even flinches not expecting such an aggressive response. 

“Daaamn you sound all wound up. Wanna go smoke weed in the back?!”

“Polly I don’t,” she stops and sighs, “Fine.”

“Yay! Let’s go!” She grabs Vicky’s hand and pulls her all the way to the bathrooms. No one is in there. Normally there’s a least a couple of other monsters wasting time here, but not today. 

Polly pulls out a blunt ready to use and lights it with a lighter. They pass it back and forth, and within no time Vicky feels a sense of relaxation over take her. Polly said something that Vicky didn’t hear, but the ghost starts giggling. She probably said something funny. However it wasn’t the unheard joke that got Vicky to join the fits of giggles rather the noise of the ghost’s own laughter. 

So now we have two high idiots giggling for no reason in the bathroom. They soon start a conversation, but most of it is nonsense. However the topic does travel back to the events that lead up to their current state. 

It starts with Polly giving a small snort, “Man you looked sooooo angry! ‘We’re not datiiiing,’ blah. Are you and Liam banging at least?”

Normally Vicky would be upset about the question. She’s not sure if it’s because it’s not true or if it’s because the idea was brought up in the first place. But with her current state she just giggles, “Nah. We’re just good friends.”

“Yeah but like, Liam talks about you a lot. And I mean a lot, a lot.”

“He does?” She doesn’t get why knowing that brings her mood up. Even more than the weed does. 

“Yeah like all the time. It’s so cute, you have no idea. Omg you should at least ask him out.”

“What?! Pfft I don’t even like him like that. I mean yeah I think he’s cute at least. Oh! Did you know that his ears twitch? I don’t know why it happens but it’s sooooooo cute! I poked it once and he got so annoyed. Man I love seeing him all flustered and blushing. And he-,” Vicky stops when she turns and sees that Polly has the biggest grin on her face, “What?”

“You so like him.”

“Why do people keep saying that?!”

“Cause it’s truuueee.” Her tone grows mischievous now that she starts to tease her. 

“No it’s not!”

“Stop lying you yourself! You like him.” She repeats that phrase as she pokes her shoulder over and over. Vicky tries to slap her hand away but it just phases through. And yet somehow she can still poke her. 

“I don’t like him, Polly! I just want to hang out with like all the time, and talk about dumb nerdy stuff, and sometimes at night I look at my hand and hope one day he can hold it again. So yeah he’s a good friend, but I don’t want to date him!”

Polly doesn’t lose her grin, “So you don’t imagine you two going out on dates? Cuddling by a fire? Taking a walk at night? Kissing under the moonlight?”

“...maybe. But like I imagine those things with all my friends!”

“Like who?”

‘Like you,’ was what she was about to say, but she stops herself. Not out of embarrassment. After all she doesn’t like Polly anymore, so admitting she used to have a crush on her doesn’t seem that big of a deal. No what stops her is the realization that all these fantasies she’s had about her and Polly going on crazy romantic hijinks are now replaced with her and Liam. And that’s how it’s been for a while now. So she can’t really deny it any longer, can she?

“Oh shit, I-I guess I do like him.” A sudden feeling of cold envelops her as Polly gives her a hug,

“I fucking knew it! Now go ask him out. Like right now. Like get the fuck out of here. Go”

“Pfft I can’t, he doesn’t even like. He likes stupid sexy Damien. I just have to keep going with my plan to hook them up. As long as he’s happy then I’ll be fine.”

Polly suddenly stand on top of the sink, “Oh hell no! You are not just going to give him up like that! You go out there and fight for your love!”

“What? Polly I can’t just force him to date me!”

“Oh shit you’re right,” she sits back down, “Welp I’m all out of ideas. And I’m coming down from my high. I’m gonna go start a rave.” She floats off and phases through the door leaving Vicky alone. 

She turns around and takes a good look in the mirror. To be honest, she’s known that she’s had a thing for Liam for a little while now. Well it’s more like she’s known but never really fully acknowledged it. She’s been trying to repress her feelings because she knows she can’t end up with him. He likes Damien, and that’s who he will be with. And as a friend, Vicky is going to do her best to get those two together. Even if it breaks her heart in the process. 

It’ll be fine.


	10. It All Falls Apart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oz finally asks Damien do go out with them. However a certain vampire overheard them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man I’ve been wanting to write this chapter so long! Specifically the last part.

Ugh, emotions. That’s something Liam would be more than happy not to deal with. And yet he’s lying in bed scrolling through the numerous of messages he and Vicky have sent to one another. They first started talking about their plans, but that quickly veered off track to the point that Liam actually forgot about their dumb schemes. It doesn’t matter. He prefers their silly banter anyway. However now he has the problem as to whether or not he likes Vicky as, well, more than just a friend. Hell, admitting that he sees her as a friend is already a big step for him. 

What makes it confusing is that his feelings for Vicky are different than his feelings for Damien. It’s weird but he seems to only like Damien when he’s not actually around. It’s like his fantasies of the two dating are always better than the real thing. Almost like he romanticizes the demon’s personality. Apparently the bad boy trope is better on paper than in execution. With Vicky; however, it’s the exact opposite. As much as he enjoys thinking about their time together it’s always better once they actually are together. Maybe it’s because Vicky is just very spontaneous the he can never predict how their outings will go. And he can feel like he can be more like himself around her. He doesn’t need to put up a barrier around her, though he still does, because she’s just as, if not ever more weirder than he is. She enjoys all the things he likes, and she’s very willing to partake in all of his odd hobbies. And she seems to have this earnest kindness to her that Liam can’t help but return. 

To sum it up; he likes being with Vicky, a lot. A lot more than he thought he ever would, a lot more than what should be considered platonic, and a hell of a lot more than he likes being with Damien.

Thinking about him makes Liam glance over at the jacket he essentially took from him. It’s hanging on the doorknob of his closet, and it’s been there for a while now. Sometimes he would wear the jacket hoping it would bring some sort of warm feeling of comfort and acceptance, but it never happened. No, instead he gets those feelings from the painting Vicky gave him. It’s hanging on the wall opposite of his bed so that it’s the first thing he sees when he wakes up. Yeah after a thought like that there’s no way his feelings for Vicky are just platonic. 

But what can he do? She’s gonna go to prom with Polly, and she’s dead set on setting him up with Damien. Maybe he should do the normal and most rational thing and just tell her how he feels. But let’s be honest after centuries of heartbreak after heartbreak there’s no way he’s going to be so upfront about it. So then what? 

He gives the jacket another glance before deciding that he should give it back. He’s had it long enough, and there’s the added bonus of symbolism behind giving back the jacket the same time he’s letting go of his feelings for Damien. With that he gets up, takes the jacket, and walks outside into the dead of night.   
________

It’s warm out, so it’s unnecessary for Liam to be wearing the jacket, but it’s still comfortable. That and it’s easier than having to carry it. He’s trying to find a more secluded place to open a portal to hell. Sometimes more feral demons try to escape and make a mess of things, so it’s better if he went into a forest where no lives will meet their untimely end. Except maybe his...again. Whatever it wouldn’t be the first time he had to fight a demon. 

He’s halfway through the park when he notices two figures in the distance. Odd, why would anyone be out so late? Perhaps they’re high schoolers out having a wild night, or cult members early for their next meeting. Either way, Liam finds them familiar enough to be drawn towards them. He sneaks over to the pond where the two figures stand. There are conveniently large bushes where Liam chooses to hide and spies over the leaves. 

He’s shocked to find Damien and Oz of all monsters out together. Last time he saw them together it was weeks ago where they were beating each other up in the cafeteria. God it feels like that was forever ago. Why would they be out together now?  
________

Oz and Damien have once again spent their evening with each other. Actually Damien got thrown in prison and he called Oz to break him out. But it was a romantic prison breakout cause they had lunch after burning the place down and freeing all the other prisoners in the process. 

Oz has been hoping that they should say something about the “unspoken thing,” they have going on. But when asking Amira about it she said that they can’t say anything or else it won’t be an “unspoken thing,” anymore cause Oz spoke about it. Also she said something about guardians in space. Whatever, it was dumb and Oz zoned out halfway through it anyway. 

They’re going to ignore her advice and mention something anyway cause they’d rather be upfront with their situation, unlike a certain friend. Right now they’re taking a break from their usual chaotic outings to just sit and enjoy the environment. Actually it took a lot of convincing to not have Damien burn the park down, but it was worth it. 

It’s strange having the two of them just sit there quietly, but it’s not a bad thing. Oz finds it very comforting, and Damien seems fine aggressively throwing rocks into the water. However Oz feels like they need to say something soon or else they’ll never know exactly what their relationship is. So they go straight to the point, “Are we dating?”

The question catches Damien by surprise. He’s midway to throwing another rock and he turns his head to face the shadow monster, “I thought you didn’t want to date me.”

“Then why do you keep saying that we’re on a date, or hold my hand at random times, or let my sleep on your chest?!”

He gives a devilish smirk, “Cause I like seeing you blush.”

“Well great job cause all that did is make me question our relationship.” They don’t sound angry rather it’s another one of their sarcastic quips. 

Damien chuckles before tossing the rock into the water, “Alright if it’s bothering you then I’ll stop.”

“But I don’t want you to.”

Now this catches Damien off guard. A look of disbelief grows on his face as he faces them once again, “You don’t?”

“Not really, no. If anything I think I might actually really like you.” They scratch the back of their neck suddenly feeling a bit nervous after admitting their feelings. Their nerves are only heightened when Damien suddenly leans forward, so close that their noses almost touch, asking, “Really?!” 

He has a large grin on his face, which only makes Oz blush even more. They don’t really know what they say, so they nod their head. 

Damien suddenly leaps up and stands in a triumphant pose, “Then yeah!”

“Yeah?”

“Fuck yeah, we’re dating!”

“You’re just going to make that decision now?!”

“Why, do you not want to date me?”

“Well yeah, it’s just I don’t know. I guess this is weird for me. I never really dated anyone before. I mean, now what do we do?”

“We could always have sex.”

“No.”

“Right too far. A kiss?”

“No.”

“Hold hands?!”

“We already do that.”

“Then what?! What the hell do you want to do?!” He sounds angry, but Damien is mainly just annoyed that Oz won’t speak their mind. The shadow monster thinks for a second, 

“We could always go to prom together.”

“Prom, Seriously? God can’t you think of something more exciting?”

“Ok better idea; We go to prom...and insert fire related idea here?...”

“Suddenly your dumb idea to go to prom sounds like a good idea! Alright let’s go together.”

Funny, Liam watched this whole exchange happen and yet he feels nothing. Well not nothing, he actually feels happy for the two of them, but that’s the problem. He’s not jealous. He’s not going to march over there and like, hurt Oz in any way. Also Oz is a good friend of his, and he can’t do that to them. Also also if Liam tried to do anything to them, Damien will most likely try to kill him. 

So that’s that. Liam likes Vicky and no longer likes Damien. It’s oddly nice to finally confirm his feelings. He doesn’t feel confused with his emotions anymore. He should thank the two of them, but that would be weird. Instead he gets out from the bush and whistles to get their attention. 

Damien whips his head around and is surprised to see Liam, “Were you spying on us, you creep?!”

“Of course not, I only spy on those who interest me.”

“Are you saying I’m not interesting? I’m the fucking prince of hell, how am I not interesting?!”

Oz stands between them, “Alright Damien I don’t want you going to hurt him, and Liam, seriously what the hell are you doing here?”

“Well I was on my way to return this still terribly designed jacket, and I just happen to run in to you two. Congratulations by the way.”

“I KNEW HE WAS SPYING ON US!” 

Oz is trying their best to push them away, “Damey seriously don’t!”

A certain word has caught Liam’s attention and he could help but give the biggest grin, “I’m sorry, ‘Damey’?!” 

A quiet yet mortified, “no,” was given from the shadow monster.

“Damey??”

“Liam please.”

“Does lil’ Damey need to be held back by his partner?”

“Liam you’re going to die.”

“Really? Lil’ baby Damey is going to kill me? I’d like to see him try.”

And from that point forward, Damien goes around town hunting the vampire who is much too fast for the demon to catch up. That doesn’t stop him from trying. Liam is still throwing the nickname around like it’s the funniest thing he’s ever heard of in centuries. Cause I mean come on, fucking Damey?? 

Eventually the demon does calm down with the help of Oz. They both lose Liam who was actually hiding in a shop watching Damien searching for him through the window. It was an entertaining sight, but he’s had enough. All three go off to their separate ways to relax for school tomorrow.   
___________

What Oz sees when they get home is just...sad. Vicky has covered all the of the walls with paper and red strings. She’s muttering words to herself that Oz can’t really understand. She doesn’t seem to have noticed them, which is sadly something they’ve gotten used to. Usually they would ignore her and go to their room, but this is too much. They walk over to her taking some time to look what’s on the papers. They’re mainly a lot of scribbles and notes most likely to do with the dumb operation,

“Vicky this is getting ridiculous.”

“Hm?” She doesn’t even turn her head. 

“I get that you’re determined to get through this plan but look at this! You’re making a mess in OUR apartment!”

“Mhm.”

“And all of this is fucking insane,” they gesture at the walls, “It’s also obsessive as fuck! You need to stop!”

“Yeah I will. Just a bit longer.”

“This is how you’ve been. Just obsessing over this stupid fucking plan to the point that it’s hurting you! When was the last time you’ve slept?”

“What if the tigers had tutus?”

“You’re not even listening are you? Guess you don’t even care that I’m going out with Damien now do you?”

“Yeah that’s nice.”

“I knew it. Sometimes I think that you don’t even care about me any-,” before they can finish, Vicky’s hand tightly grips Oz’s shoulder,

“You’re what?”

Shocked and honestly a bit scared, Oz stares at her before answering, “I’m going out with Damien?”

Her head slowly turns. A look of distraught covers her face, “Why?”

“Cause I like him. I thought I’d give him a shot and see where it goes.”

“You can’t do that!” 

Her sudden shout causes Oz to flinch a little, “What the fuck, why?!”

“Cause that’s not part of the plan! You can’t be dating Damien, Liam is supposed to be with him!”

“Excuse me?!”

“That’s what I’ve been working hard on! All these weeks of planning and I’m so close to getting them together! Why did you have to ruin my work?!”

“Oh what, do you just want me to break up with him even though we just started dating?!”

“Yes! Yes please just do that, it’ll make things so much easier for me!”

Oz can’t believe what they’re hearing, “You want me to break up with a guy I actually like just so you can hook him up with someone else? Not long ago you’ve been giving me shit for not even having a crush on someone, and now you want me to be single again?!”

“Oz you can be with anyone you want! Just not Damien cause he’s supposed to date Liam!”

“But he’s the only one I actually want to be with! Besides he doesn’t even like Liam!”

“Not YET he doesn’t!”

“There is no yet! He will never like Liam!”

“I promise you he will once you dump him. Please, Oz just do this for me!”

This is unbelievable. It’s so ridiculous hearing the nonsense she’s saying that they can’t help but laugh, “So you want me to give up my happiness just so you can keep going with all of this?”

“Well it sounds terrible when you put it like that.”

“That’s because it is terrible Vicky! Do you even hear yourself? God you always do this!”

“Do what?”

“This! You’re always forcing me to give something up for you! You drag me to parties and clubs even though you know I hate them just so you can woo a girl who doesn’t even know you. You fucking gambled my life away without me even knowing. You want me to dump and a guy I like for fuck sake! You use me as a tool for your schemes and plans, and when you don’t you just completely ditch me for someone who will help you!”

“I don’t-,”

“Yes you do! When was the last time we actually hung out together?”

“What about the movie night-,”

“We never had our movie night, why? Cause you were off trying to date Polly when we both know you don’t even like her anymore, so what even was the fucking point with that?! And now here you are obsessing over all of this and asking me to just throw away my own wants and needs for you, again!” 

Vicky can feel her eyes stinging, “Why do you have to make it sound like I’m the bad guy? It’s like you think I’m selfish!”

“It’s because you are, Vicky! You’re a selfish, narrow minded, brat who doesn’t think that what she’s doing is hurting her best friend!”

“But I’m not doing this for me, it’s for Liam!I just want him to be happy!”

“Oh so now he’s more important than me? I’ve known you my whole life!”

“You said you wouldn’t get jealous!”

“This isn’t jealousy! I wouldn’t care that you would be spending more time with him if you haven’t been ignoring me in the process! You’re basically the only friend I have and it’s like I don’t even matter to you anymore!”

“That’s not true!”

“Bullshit! That’s complete bullshit! If you still cared then you wouldn’t be asking me to breakup with Damien. You’d actually be happy, but no. It’s all about Liam now.” 

“Oz-,”

“No I’m done. I don’t care if your plan falls apart because of me.”

“Oz please.” She grapes their hand but they harshly yank it away,

“Don’t touch me. I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”

“But-,”

“Goodnight, Vicky.” They don’t even sound angry anymore. They just sound sad, and even a bit heartbroken. Without another word they walk to their room leaving Vicky alone. 

She’s frozen in place. Once she hears the sound of the door closing she collapses onto the floor. Only then do the tears start flowing out. Seems like things have been getting worse and worse. Maybe it is time to just give up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah sorry that this was a it more of a downer at the end. But hey nothing like a bit of drama to build character!


	11. Nothing Like a Bit of Shopping to Fix the Blues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam noticed that Vicky has been feeling down, so he tries to cheer her up by taking her to the mall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who’s sick?! Trick question, it’s me.

It’s really obvious whenever Vicky isn’t feeling so well. All the energy is drained out of her, and it’s like she’s a different person from the bubbly and upbeat girl she normally is. So of course Liam picked up on her change in behavior and decided to take her out to the mall and cheer her up. Problem is he has no idea on how to do that. He’s not really a cheery guy himself, so how can he spread that to others? 

Well from their past outings he knows that Vicky enjoys sweets, so he buys her some ice cream (after getting a picture of it because it looked heavenly). He also sneaks a picture of Vicky enjoying her ice cream because he swears no matter what this woman does she always looks adorable doing it. Turns out that Liam is not as sneaky as he thinks, and Vicky catches him. She reaches for the phone but he pulls it away before she could get it,

“Liam I want to see it.”

“See what, my messages? It’s rude to try to sneak a glance at my private conversations.”

“I know you took a picture of me. Come on I just wanna see.”

She tries again but he only moves it farther from her. She pouts and Liam was ready to surrender right then and there, but he had to be strong. But for some reason Vicky’s pout turns into a smirk as she leans forward and tilts her ice cream a bit, “If you don’t hand over your phone then I will drop this on your very expensive looking jeans.”

He scoots his chair away, “You wouldn’t!”

She only scoots closer, “Oh I would.”

“You’re evil, you know that!”

“Hand it over, Liam!”

He takes one look at his phone before reluctantly giving it to her. She takes it only to see that it’s closed. Liam gives a triumphant laugh, “Good luck figuring out the password. I made it that not even my surrogate father can get in. After decades of figuring out the perfect passcode, no one, not man nor monster, has ever been able to-,”

“Did it!”

“Excuse me?!”

“Yeah while you were talking I hacked into it.”

He scoots back up suddenly interested, “You did?”

“Ha no, I just guessed and got lucky.”

“Oh…”

“It did take me a couple of tries though so...oh it actually looks pretty.”

He glances over and sees that she’s looking at the picture, “Well of course it looks pretty, I’m the one who took it.” 

She rolls her eyes at his comment but takes a couple of seconds to look at it a bit longer, “Do I really look that upset?”

“Hm?”

“I mean, it’s pretty obvious isn’t it? She turns the phone so that Liam can get a better look at the picture. Her electric blue eyes seemed to have dulled down. Her face looks like it’s lost I thought like she’s zoning out. Someone might not instantly piece together that she’s upset, but for anyone who knows her this is the saddest she’s ever looked. 

Liam takes his phone back. Before he could question her, she suddenly asks, “Am I selfish?”

He doesn’t know how to respond to that. To be honest she is a bit selfish, but that doesn’t seem like the answer she wants. He could just dance around the question, but that won’t really help with the situation, 

“Well...yes. Sometimes you don’t really think how your actions affect others.”

She slumps down against her chair, “Oh.”

“B-but that doesn’t make you a bad person! It’s just one flaw in your overall wonderful personality.” He can feel a blush creeping up when he realized what he said. However that doesn’t seem help Vicky since she’s still slumped on the chair. Her ice cream has been long forgotten melting away on the table. She should actually clean that up. 

“But I’ve been hurting someone because of that ‘flaw.’ Someone who I love dearly. They haven’t talked to me in days, and I’m trying really hard to make it up to them, but nothing works. I even tried that thing with the boombox outside the window, but our apartment is high up, so they probably couldn’t even hear me.”

“Well assuming that this is a close friend of yours I think it’s best if you leave them be. Just let them calm down and when they feel ready you two can talk it out.”

“But what if that never happens? What if they hate me forever? What if they want to move out?? Where would they go?? They’ll probably be left out on the streets, starving and forced to eat other people even though they already do that! It’ll be more common and the human race will go extinct because of them!! They’ll go after monsters next! Then they-,”

Liam grabs ahold of her shoulders, “Vicky calm down, you’re getting ahead of yourself! I promise you that they’re not going to hate you forever. Friends have fall outs all of the time. I know for a fact that in just a few days you two will be able to talk through your problems and go back to being friends. It’s normal and it happens all the time.”

“...You think?”

“Trust me after living for over 400 years I think I know a thing or two about friendship.”

“Heh, that sounded lame.”

“I’m trying to help, Vicky”

“Sorry.” Still she’s giggling, which is fine with Liam cause it means she’s feeling better. 

They do end up getting a complaint by the ice cream worker because Vicky left her treat, and now it’s just a huge puddle on the table. As they leave they can hear the worker complain as they clean up the mess. 

While they’re walk around the mall, Vicky is still thinking about her dilemma with the plan. Damien and Oz are together, so now what? There’s no way she could break them apart. Especially not after her fight with Oz. But what about Liam? Who’s he going to ask to prom now? What if he asks Damien only to get harshly rejected?! That would just break the vampire’s long dead heart! She should say something then. Tell him that Damien is off the market, and she can’t help him anymore. 

But then what about them? The only reason they hung out was to discuss their plans even though they usually end up long forgotten to the point where they just hang out like any other friends. Would Liam even want to spend time with her even after calling the deal off? The answer should be yes. It’s clear that they enjoy each other’s company, so why shouldn’t they hang out just for fun? However there is a small part of her brain that says, “No, Liam still thinks you’re annoying. Why would he hang out with someone that bothers him so much?!”

Obviously she knows that side of her is being irrational. Liam wouldn’t even bother with her if he didn’t at least enjoy her company. At least she hopes. He wouldn’t just use her just so he can get to Damien right?... Right?! Oh great that negative voice is actually getting to her. She can barely hear Liam’s fingers snapping in front of her...wait what?

“Vicky, are you still awake? It would have been nice to know if you have narcolepsy.”

“Hm? Oh sorry, did you say something.”

“I asked if you have already bought your prom dress.”

“Oh...oh dang, no I haven’t!” 

The reason she’s freaking out is because prom is just a few days away. She’s been so caught up with the whole operation that she ironically forgot about prom itself.

“Did you buy a tux yet?”

“No, I haven’t even thought about it honestly.”

“Me neither. Guess we got too wrapped up in our own shenanigans huh?”

“And it was all for nothing.”

“Huh?”

“Oh look some lesser known and not very mainstream shop. We could probably buy out outfits there.”

“Liam that has to be one of the most mainstream stores that has ever existed, are you sure-,” 

Liam starts pushing her, “Yes I’m sure. Now let’s drop the conversation that we been having.”

He didn’t want to admit that he doesn’t like Damien anymore. Why? Well he’s not an idiot. He’s noticed how hard Vicky has been working for him. He’s not really sure what she’s been doing, but it’s exhausting her. He’d feel terrible to say that he’s not interested and all that work she did was for nothing. There’s also the possibility that he’d get so caught up in his explanation that he ends up confessing to her, which is also just not a good outcome for either of them. Well that’s what he thinks at least. 

Though he is slightly upset that he did pick a very mainstream store, but he panicked. But he begrudgingly admits that they do have a lot of good clothes here. One complement causes Vicky to grin at him. 

“...What?”

“So what happened to that hipster persona of yours?”

“Shut up. I guess it just means I’m more comfortable around you.”

“So like, you admit that it’s a facade right?”

“No.”

“I think you meant yes, but you said it a bit wrong. Say it with me, ‘yes’”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“See I don’t think you’re really trying. One more time.”

“It’s not a facade, Vicky!” 

She raises her hands in defeat, “Ok, I mean it is, but ok.”

He gives her a chilling glare that doesn’t actually affect her, “Liam I’ve told over and over that I like the real you! I love dorky, weird, weeb, Liam, so drop the act already.”

Her words comfort him, and his look softens a bit. Though dropping something he’s been putting up for years, hell, decades isn’t exactly easy. Oh great he’s blushing again. He has to think of something to distract her before she notices. Luckily just behind her is a wrack with a very pretty dress that should suit her. How convenient,

“Hey maybe you should try this on.” He reaches passed to grab the dress. Vicky’s eyes light up. The dress is this strapless beauty with a black waist bit and a white skirt with black polka dots. She yanks it from his hands. There’s even a blue sash on it. Well then when there’s blue on it there’s no way she can’t at least try it on, “Thanks Liam! Oh oh, let’s find you something. That way we can both try it on and surprise each other. It’ll be like a cool reveal thing.” 

“Is that really necessary? You can just go try it on now.”

“No, it’ll be more exciting that way. Now hush up and give me your arm.”

Liam sighs but still lifts his arm for Vicky to grasp and drag him around the store. 

It would have been easy for Liam to find something if he wasn’t so god damn picky! They go through the whole store with the vampire refusing to try anything on for trivial reasons. The clothes are either too bright, too dull, the fabric isn’t right, it’s somehow too fucking mainstream! Vicky has had just about enough, so she grabs some random purple tux and gives it to him, “Here take this, and don’t you dare share your opinion!”

Liam was opens his mouth to protest anyway when Vicky tosses a pair of suspenders, “Here, will this satisfy you?!”

“Actually yes. I think suspenders would have improved any of these tuxedos.”

“Of course, why didn’t I think of that sooner?!”

They both head off to seperate changing halls. As Vicky changes she ends up losing herself in her thoughts again. This stupid plan is really getting to her. She can’t be alone for two minutes without thinking about it. But what can she do? It’s all ruined. As she thinks about all of the possible solutions only one seems like that best option. Liam may be heartbroken, but she has to tell him. 

Liam was about ready when he notices a notification on his phone. It’s a message from surprisingly, Polly of all monsters. She sent him a couple of pictures of the school’s bulletin board. Why she’s at the school in the late evening is beyond his care. He just scrolls through the photos. The first one was a close up of one of the papers pinned on the board. It reads, “Prom King Candidates,” in an elegant, cursive font. Why would Polly send him this? He looked at the names only to be put way off guard after seeing his own. A look of shock and confusion overtakes his face. This can’t be right. He would never run for prom king. This has to be a mistake! 

He scrolls to the other photo, which is just a zoom in of his name. Only confirming that this is in fact his name under the list of candidates. He can only stare in utter bewilderment. How that actually fuck did his name make it on the list?! 

And with her perfect timing, Polly sent him his answer,

Polina: Yoooooo congrats boo!

Liam: What is the meaning of this?! I never ran for prom king!

Polina: Oh dang I knew I wasnt trippin!

Liam: What does your obvious drug problem have to do with this?

Polina: Ok so like one day there was a mega huge crowd and I was liek, “Woah a rave!” But then I saw good ol Vick dressed up as you saying she’s or you were running for prom king. I thought I was on sumthing when it happened lmao. 

The screen cracked from Liam’s grip on his phone growing tighter. Of course it was Vicky! It must have something to do with that stupid plan. He gets that she did it to help him with Damien, but this is something they never agreed to do. Hell he straight up said he would never want to run for prom king! So then why would she go behind his back like this? While a part of him feels enraged he mostly feels betrayed. Vicky is someone he actually trusts. As much as he would never present the real him, she knows him. She knows why he puts up this barrier around everyone. That he’s petrified of monsters judging him. So why would she go out of her way to push him in the spotlight? 

A knock on the door snaps him out of his thoughts. He didn’t realize that he’s been staring at his phone for a while. When he doesn’t respond there’s another knock followed by, “Liam, you ok? I kind of need to talk to you.” It’s Vicky. 

He hesitates thinking maybe he should just bail. He can turn into mist and go home. But no, he has to confront her, so with a heavy sigh he opens the door, “Vicky why would you-,” he stops when he sees her in the dress. She looks downright enchanting in his eyes. He could just let it all go and forgive her. But once again he can’t let something like this slip past, so when Vicky starts talking he interrupts her,

“Liam I’m sorry but-,”

“What’s this?” He shows her the photo of the list. She stops talking, and her mouth is left wide open in shock,

“Why do you have that?”

“It doesn’t matter. What does is that you went behind my back, and now I’m running for prom king?!” 

“Ok let me explain.” 

“No, I get it. It’s so that whole thing with Damien will happen and we get together.”

“Well, yeah that’s pretty much why. But that’s good, right? It’s all part of the plan.”

“A part that I didn’t even know about! Vicky, I told you that I never wanted to run for prom king.”

“Yeah I know but what’s the big deal? Look I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you about his, I really am, but hey you’re going to be prom king! Isn’t that a good thing?”

“No, it’s probably the worst thing that you could have ever done! It’s already enough that I’m going to such a cliche event such as prom, but now I’ll actually be crowned prom king?!”

Vicky can’t help but roll her eyes and groan, “God, just drop the act already! I know you don’t want to be prom king because it’s too, ‘mainstream.’ You’re just scared of the attention!”

“Alright fine! I’m scared, no, I’m terrified of going up there and having everyone’s eyes staring at me. I’m terrified that after that people will start to notice me more. I’m practically petrified that after becoming prom king people will have high expectations of me only to be disappointed that I’m just a loser who spends too much of his time isolated in his room scrolling through the Internet for hours on end! I’ll be a laughing stock! They’ll never let me live it down, and it’ll get so bad that I’ll have to run away like all the other times I’ve ran away for the past 400 fucking years!”

“Liam, Liam calm down, you’re hyperventilating. Just breathe!”

“I can’t breathe, Vicky, I’m dead!”

“Well then stop talking and look at me!” 

She takes his hands and looks up at him. He stares back. While his eyes normally show nothing but boredom, this time they’re wide with fear. Vicky can’t help but feel immense guilt. She should have known Miranda’s whole operation was a bad idea from the start. Vicky should never have taken a part in it. She never should have even started this plan with Liam to begin with. All that really did was drive Oz away, give her a broken heart, and maybe now her crush might not want to speak to her ever again. Well he seemed to have calmed down a bit, but still. 

She closes her eyes and leans forward resting her forehead on Liam’s chest, “I fucked up.”

He tenses up a bit, but he does nothing to push her away. Instead he leans forward and rests his chin a top of her head. Like I said, Liam isn’t the comforting type, and he’s not in the mood in comforting Vicky at the moment, “You need to be specific because it seems like you have fucked up on a lot of things.”

The comment earns a sorrowful chuckle from the walking corpse, “Everything. I got so wrapped up with the plan that I threw Oz to the side, overworked myself to the point that I wished for sleep and nothing else, I don’t even like Polly anymore, so you’re help was nothing but a waste, and it was all for nothing! You can’t even get your own happy ending cause Damien and Oz are dating now! I can’t do anything about that, and I even told Oz to break up with him but that was just really shitty of me to say!” 

As she spoke tears ran down her face. She removed her hands from Liam’s to cover her face. The vampire didn’t know what to do with his now empty hands, so he just gently wraps them around her essentially hugging her. This is a lot to take in. Now it’s his turn to feel some guilt now that he knows that Vicky has been dealing with a lot on her own. All the while he was too distracted with his own emotions to notice her struggles. He figures that now seems like a good enough time to confess a couple of things,

“I know...about the whole Damien and Oz thing I mean. I actually watched them get together.”

Vicky looks up having her tear filled eyes widen with surprise, “You did?! Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know that they even liked each other! But I can’t do anything about it-,”

Liam silenced her by placing a hand over her lips, with more gentilness than last time of course, “Relax, I don’t even care. And no that’s not my ‘hipster facade,’ talking again. I just...I just don’t like Damien anymore. Also don’t lick my hand. I will scream again.” 

She giggles at the last comment, but it sounded hollow like the last chuckle. He moves his hand back, and they both fall silent soon after. Right now Vicky is feeling a flurry of emotions. While she still feels guilty and terrible, there’s another part that is filled with relief. Both because she no longer has to worry about the whole, ‘Damien isn’t single,’ situation, and because the plan doesn’t even matter anymore! She probably needs to tell Miranda that she’s done with the operation, but that’s for later, as of right now there are no more plans!! Also Liam is essentially on the market again, but that’s just a small bonus. 

After a little while Vicky asks, “So now what?”

“Hm?”

“I mean, what about prom? We don’t really have dates anymore. I guess we never did, but still. Also this dress is really pretty, and I don’t want to waste it.” 

“You haven’t even paid for it yet, why worry?”

“Oh no I did. Right before I came to get you.”

Of course she did. He can’t help but roll his eyes. Still there is a matter of who they can go with. He’d rather not go by himself. His anxiety is telling him that it’s social suicide to go to prom alone. Still that seems less scary than asking Vicky...screw it, 

“What if we just went with each other?”

“What?!”

“As j-just friends of course. Don’t think I’m asking you out or anything.” He’s glad she can’t see his face, or she’d be greeted with the blushing mess standing before her. 

“Right, just friends. I mean who said we had to go to prom with a romantic date? It can just be you and me. Just two, uh, buddies going to prom!”

“You’re making this sound more awkward than it needs to be.”

“Sorry.”

They go back to their silence till Vicky once again breaks it, “But like, I would like to go with you. I think It’d be fun.”

“Good, then it’s a date...a friendly date...that’s not cliche, right?”

“Pfft, who cares?”

“I wish I didn’t.”

“You won’t. You gotta learn to love yourself. It’s hard, but you’ll get there.” 

God damn it, why is this woman so sweet?! Liam pulls her a bit closer as his hug tightens. He rests his chin on top of her head again. All the while, Vicky still has her forehead resting on his chest. 

They stay like that. Just silently hugging each other. It feels warm. Metaphorically of course, they’re still two dead bodies holding on to one another. That is anything but warm. But still they feel calm, serene, and at peace. This is the first time either of them have felt peaceful in a long while. 

Unfortunately their moment had to end with a knock on the open door. They both turn to see an employee, “Hey I don’t want to like, ruin your moment or anything, but the store closes in thirty minutes. Are you two gonna leave or what?”

Vicky responds with, “Oh sorry. No yeah we’re leaving anyway.” She takes Liam’s hand as the two walk out, “Bit rude don’t ya think?”

“She clearly has no idea what personal space is.”

“Yeah, couldn’t she see we were having a...Liam?”

“Hm?”

“Did you pay for that tux?”

“...Shit.”

“Should we-,”

“Nope.”

“But-,”

“Just run!”

Vicky was still hesitant, but hearing that same employee shout, “Wait,” behind her was more than enough motivation to get both of them out of here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was gonna end this with Liam also being mad at Vicky, but I thought that the poor girl has already been through enough. Besides, this was cuter.


	12. Don’t Mess with Miranda Vanderbilt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vicky finally decides to tell Miranda that she’s dropping the operation, but Miranda doesn’t take that so well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a thing I never mentioned mainly because it’s idea I’ve been playing with in my head while writing this story. Liam and Oz are really close friends. They have been for years. That’s why in the library scene that you’ll read, Liam seems more comfortable talking about some stuff with Oz. Alright? Alright l, cool, ok.

Things finally seem to be looking up for Vicky. All her stress has gone out the window, there’s a new show to binge watch on Notflix, and she’s going to prom with Liam! Well not as dates exactly, but simply going as friends is good enough for her. Of course there are still two big problems that she has to deal with; Oz is still not talking to her, and she has to tell Miranda that she’s dropping the operation. For some reason, Vicky finds the latter pretty scary to think about. While she might not know Miranda all that well, she still knows that the princess can be very deadly. Especially when things don’t go her way. 

Vicky could just not tell her. Just stay quiet, ignore the princess, and hope she forgets about the whole thing. However if Vicky has learned anything; avoiding the situation never helps, so she has to tell Miranda, like, today. Seriously, prom is tomorrow, and by then it would already be too late to call the plans off. But she can do it later. Right now it’s early in the morning, and she’s gonna skip school. Mainly because she really needs the mental health day, but it’s also to start watching that new series. 

The second she presses the play button on the remote the sound of a door slamming can be heard from down the hallway. Moments after, Oz appears rushing through the living room as they’re in a hurry to leave for school. They pass by Vicky acting as if she’s not even there. It’s been this way for days now. Oz has been giving their friend the cold shoulder, which is actually pretty awkward considering they both live in a small apartment together. Dinner is even worse cause Amira insists they eat together, which is honestly bullshit cause Brian is still fucking gone, and they don’t hear Amira complaining about his absence at the table! Ok he’s missing, so what? Since when was that a free pass to miss “family” dinner?! 

As Oz is about to leave, Vicky impulsively shouts, “Wait!” 

They stop with the door now partially open. They don’t turn around, but they wait for Vicky to continue, 

“I know I’ve said this a million times, but I’m so so so so sorry! I’ve been stressed with everything that’s been happening, but it’s all my fault. None of it would have happen if I just took your advice and simply told Polly how I felt,” she pauses hoping that Oz would respond. When they don’t she continues, “I’ve treated you terribly. I’ve said things to you that I regret, but I want you to know that you’re my best friend. You’ve been with me since I was a little kid, and I love you more than anyone… and you were right, I do have a crush on Liam.” 

She pauses again. Luckily Oz hasn’t left yet. When she speaks again her tone shifts to that akin to teasing, “Come oooon, I know how much you like it when I admit that you’re right about something. I’ll keep going; All those plans I’ve had to woo Polly we’re dumb, Riverscale is a really bad show, and it got worse in season two, and as much as he scares me, Damien will be a great boyfriend. I’m sorry for saying you two should break up cause I know that-,”

“Stop.”

“What?”

“Just stop,” they’re now facing her, “I get it, you’re sorry.”

When she realizes the Oz isn’t going to continue she asks, “Soooooo do you forgive me?”

“No.”

“Oh…”

“Look I’m glad that you’ve realized your mistakes, but I’m still pretty fucking mad at you. What you said to me, how you want me to break up with Damien, that really hurt me. It proves that you only ever put your own needs above anyone else’s. You don’t care about how I feel.”

“But that wasn’t for me, Oz! See, Liam and I made a deal that if he helped me ask Polly to prom then I help him ask Damien out. But things got complicated, I started to like Liam instead, but he doesn’t like me back. But I still wanted him to be happy, so I went out of my way to make sure that those two end up together anyway.”

“...Oh. Vicky why didn’t you just tell him how you felt?”

“I don’t know. It’s not easy for me to just tell someone I like them.”

“Gee, I never noticed.”

“Shush. I don’t know how you make it look so easy. I’m terrified that maybe I’ll get rejected. Especially when I know for a fact that Liam doesn’t feel the same way.”

“Well, I guess you have a point. The only reason it was easy for me was because it was really obvious that Damien likes mean, and I mean he just straight up told me multiple times.” 

“Heh, lucky.” 

Neither of them say anything after that. An awkward silence fills the room. Eventually, Oz opens the door the rest of the way and turns to leave, “I’m already late. See ya, Vic.”

“Wait.”

“What?”

“We could always try having that movie marathon again...If ya want that is.”

Oz takes their sweet time finding an answer. Mainly because they don’t know how to feel. Yeah they’re still mad at Vicky, but after learning about everything they mainly feel bad for her. When they can’t come to a conclusion they simply respond with, “I’ll think about it,” before leaving. 

Vicky slumps back down onto the couch again. At least Oz is talking to her again, so that’s a plus. It’s comforting knowing that they won’t move out and become homeless. 

She reaches for the remote and once again presses play on the tv. This is going to be a relaxing day for her, and nothing will get in the way of it!  
_______

School is nearly done for the day when Vicky finally decides to actually do something. She finished a whole series and nearly started on a new one, but that nagging voice in the back of her head kept telling her that she needs to talk to Miranda. It’s also a good time to catch her right outside of school because it has occured to Vicky that she has no idea where the fish princess lives. Yeah it’s some underwater kingdom, but she has no idea how to get there. 

With a whole lot of internal motivation, Vicky gets up from the couch with a heavy groan. Crumbs from the numerous of snacks she took to the couch all spill from her lap. Wow, now that she looks at it, the apartment does need a bit of cleaning. Maybe Vicky should procrastinate a bit by cleaning. Nope, no she really can’t wait it out any longer. Come on, Vicky! It’s just one genocidal princess with connections to some very dangerous people! What could possibly go wrong?! 

After a lot of convincing, Vicky finally went out...to take out the trash, but then she left for real. She needs to find a way to quickly travel to school. There’s always the car in the parking lot that they never use. Why do they even have a car it they don’t use it? Whatever, Vicky will just speed walk over to the school like a wine mom going out for a jog. They surprisingly have good speed for someone who is just walking at a brisk pace. So with the power of wine moms by her side, Vicky is able to make it in school just in the neck of time, with Miranda walking down the steps of the building. 

From the bottom of the steps, Vicky waves her arms to get the princess’s attention, “Hey Miranda! I need to talk to you!” 

The princess turns with a look of joy. She gracefully walks down and nearly loses her sandal in true princess fashion, “I am glad that you’re here! Operation: Make Liam Popular Again is almost done! We simply need to do one last crucial step.”

“Um, I actually came here to talk to you about that.”

“Hm, do you have any ideas you would like to share? Because I can assure you they will promptly be ignored for I am the one in charge; therefore, we follow my plans only.”

Yikes. 

“Well, n-not exactly. See um, technically this is my idea but like, it doesn’t have to do with the plan. Well I mean it does but, uh, it’s uh,” she stops to take a deep breath. Within this small window of time she tries to build enough courage to finally say it, “I think we should drop the operation.”

Miranda doesn’t show any sort of reaction. She’s still smiling brightly as if she didn’t just hear a single thing Vicky said, “We should what?”

“I-ok look. I get that you want to make Liam happy, but this isn’t going to do that. Don’t tell him I told you, but he has like a lot of anxiety, and being put in the spotlight actually makes him feel really, really nervous. I do think he should be more open and comfortable expressing himself, but we should let him do that at his own pace.” 

Once again, Miranda doesn’t respond right away. The smile doesn’t leave her face, and it’s actually getting a bit uncomfortable to look at, “Well that’s too bad, but I understand if you don’t want to do the plan anymore.”

“Wait really? Oh thank god! I thought you would get really upset and-,”

“I’ll just have to execute you.”

“Yeah that’s seems fine-excuse me you have to what?!”

“Execute you. It’s what we do to those who refuse to follow our orders.”

“W-Wait, you can’t just try to kill me! What about prom?!”

“Exactly. There’s always the chance that you’ll try to ruin my plan. Perhaps you’ll prevent Liam from even attending.”

A sense of panic instantly invades Vicky’s body, “But come on, execution?! That seems a bit too extreme, don’t ya think?!”

“I promise to be more modest about it. I’ll simply have my numerous guards chase you down. I know you’ll try to run away, so I might as well prepare my men for that.”

Vicky takes a step back on the steps, “Miranda what the hell?! This isn’t something you can do just because I don’t want to help you anymore! Can’t we just drop all of this?!”

“Hmmmmm, well you have been very helpful to me. Maybe we can make a game out of it!”

“W-what do you mean?”

“If you manage to fend off all of my guards then I will let you live! I don’t normally provide such an opportunity to my rebellious people mainly because they don’t end up making it.”

“Miranda seriously you can’t do this!”

“Well it’s either this or I shall have you be executed immediately.” She starts rummaging through her little purse as Vicky continues to slowly step away. Miranda pulls out a small whistle, “I doubt you want to die right away, so let this game begin!” 

She blows on the whistle. A high pitch sound cuts through the air. Vicky is frozen in fear as she expects a school of buff, scary fish men to suddenly appear. However nothing seems to to be happening. A small glimmer of hope shines in Vicky’s chest. Maybe Miranda was just joking. 

As soon as that thought popped up in her mind the floor begins to rumble. The sound of heavy footsteps can be heard from far away. Vicky frantically looks around expecting a guard to appear. It takes her a moment to realize that the rumbling is coming from the school, and the vibrations are only increasing. Vicky gives Miranda one last pleading look, “This can’t be happening! Miranda seriously you can’t do this! I don’t want to die again!”

“Then I suggest that you start running.” 

In that moment the door to the school bursts open. A couple of guards in armor appear, but Vicky only manages to get a glimpse of them as she instantly turns around and runs off. 

Her feet pound against the pavement but the sound of her footsteps are drowned out by the numerous of guards trailing behind her. She calls for help towards any monster she sees, but when they look they only run away as well. It’s like the idea of facing against a large mass of professionally trained royal guards is scary or something. As if things can’t get any worse, thunder can be heard in the distance. Well doesn’t that just fit the setting oh so well.   
_______

Liam hasn’t been able to concentrate at all during school. After spending all of last night thinking, he’s come to the conclusion that he should confess to Vicky. But in a way that doesn’t involve him actually confessing. Because confessing his love is way too mainstream nowadays and-fuck it, he’s just really fucking nervous to do so. Maybe he should accidentally hold her hand more often. That would send some sort of sign, right? He planned on making some sort of move at school, but Vicky didn’t show up. Why is it that whenever Liam wants something to happen it never does? 

Once school finally ended instead of going home, he heads to the library. Totally not to do research on how to subtly show a girl that he has an interest in her. A good bit of his time was spent on procrastinating by playing Tetris. Can you blame him? The theme is really catchy! But that’s enough of that, he needs to prepare himself to confess to Vicky! It can’t be that difficult to find a more obscure way to express himself. 

...Wait, why is he worrying about trying to come off as a hipster? It’s pretty clear that any attempt to keep up his facade will just annoy her at best and lead to another scolding at worst. While Liam’s still not completely comfortable with being himself around Vicky, he knows for a fact that there’s no reason to pretend around her. 

Screw it, let’s make his confession the sappiest, romantic, most cliche thing he’s ever done! Let’s fucking throw some roses in, and a nice box a chocolate too! He’s going to write her a poem! Maybe he can make her a painting as well! He should get down on one knee! Nope no, too much there. Actually all of that seems a bit much. One rose could work just fine. 

“You ok there?”

Liam jumps a the sound of the voice. He turns around to see Oz standing right behind him, “O-of course I’m fine! Why do you ask?”

“You’ve been staring at that computer screen for a while with this look of determination. I honestly got a bit worried.” 

“Really? That tends to happen a lot when I get lost in thought.”

“Yeah, like that time you stared at Vicky for a good 45 minutes.”

“You noticed that?!”

“I notice a lot of things. When you’re as quiet as me you tend to just observe a lot.” 

“Hm,” he turns back to face the computer, “What else have you noticed?”

“The fact that you really like Vicky. Though honestly that’s pretty obvious.”

Liam chuckles quietly, “So it seems. Even before I developed these feeling for her people always seemed to mistake us for a couple.”

“I guess it’s just because of how close you two have gotten in such a short amount of time. Especially since it’s, well, you. No offense, but you tend to isolate yourself a lot.”

“I’m very aware of that.”

Oz pulls out a chair a sits by Liam, “So are you going to confess you her anytime soon?”

“Funny enough that’s what I’ve been thinking about.”

“Figured, so what do you have planned?”

Liam begins to explain everything. How he feels comfortable around Vicky, and he wants to show her that by doing some dumb cliche thing. However midway through the explanation a loud crash interrupts the two. They both turn towards the direction of the sound. A merman in royal armor bursts out of the table as if he was hiding under there for who knows how long. A couple more appear from behind bookshelves. They all charge toward the door leaving a trail of mess behind. As soon as they’re all gone, Oz and Liam turn to each other with Oz questioning, “What the actual bloody fuck just happened?!”

“Three mermen appeared and charged out of the library. What’s not to understand?”

“I can think of many good reasons why that shouldn’t be a normal thing.”

“Hello new kid. Welcome to Spooky High where the days are never normal.”

“...Right, But still! Something is up and my gut is telling me that it’s not good!”

“Well we’re not going to just follow them. That will only lead into trouble.”

Oz only gives him a look. One that obviously states that they’re going to follow those guards either with or without Liam. The vampire only sighs before standing up, “Fine, if it means postponing this conversation concerning my feelings then I’m all for it.” 

Without another word the two monsters chase after the guards. The second they reach the hallway, Liam has to pull Oz back into the library before either of them could get trampled by the hundreds of guards overflowing the hallways. 

They’re both utterly bewildered from the chaos they see before them. Liam goes around to look for another exit while Oz is trying to analyze the situation, “Right so a bunch of mermen in armor are storming around in this school. Did somebody piss off Miranda?” 

Liam responds while in the process of opening a window, “That appears to be the case. Thought it’s pointless to dwell on the why, and for now we should just leave!” 

“Right, sorry.” 

Oz makes their way to the window. The problem with the library is that it’s a tower high above the ground. Fortunately Liam can simply turn into a bat and fly down while Oz can’t die no matter how high the tower is. They’ll be fine with simply dropping to the ground. And so that’s exactly what they do. However before he flies down, Liam scans at the entrance of the building. The guards are already outside chasing some poor girl in a blue sweater. She looks familiar with her green skin and black wavy hair… wait. 

Liam dive bombs to the ground. The second he hits the floor he transforms back to his usual self, “It’s Vicky!”

“What?”

“The guards are after Vicky!”

“What the hell did she do to piss Miranda off? They barely even know each other!” 

“It’s Vicky, she must have done or said something stupid enough to make her mad!” 

Oz begins to pace around the floor, “shit, shit, shit what do we do?!”

“You’re this eldritch abomination can’t you kill them all?!”

“Well I’m actually pretty weak compared to others of my kind,” they say sheepishly, “and there’s way too many of them for me to handle.”

“Well isn’t that just fantastic! So what we do nothing and she most likely dies, or do we die as well trying to save her?!” 

“Well I mean I can’t die, ever.” 

“Not the fucking point, Oz!” 

Liam has joined Oz in their pacing as he continues, “So what, we just go in and hope for the best?!”

“I guess!”

They go quiet. Thunder can be heard in the distance. Both of them know there’s not a good chance they’ll actually save Vicky, but what other choice do they have?  
_________

This has to be the most Vicky has ever ran in her life, both living and beyond. Luckily she did manage to veer some guards off course by chucking a lot of heavy objects in their way. Problem is that it barely caused a dent in the overall massive sea of guards who have not even broke a sweat! Can mermen even sweat? Isn’t that a thing that only mammals can do? Are fish people even mammals? What’s going on? Right, Vicky is being chased. 

Maybe if she turns this corner then it’ll lead to her escape. She does so but not before throwing a stroller into the guards’ way to distract them. Luckily the stroller is in fact empty, but it’s kind of fucked that she threw one without even checking. Then again this city does tend to leave empty strollers out for no reason. Usually to have them be thrown at strangers. 

Right, so Vicky turns the corner hoping for some sort of luck, but instead she ends up in front of a wall. Turns out she made a turn into an alleyway. Well shit! She turns and sees the guards closing in on her. She tries to back away, but she ends up pressed up against the wall. Quick, surely there must be a way to keep the guards away, 

“Wait, do you guys really want to do this? I mean, hunting down a girl doesn’t sound like an ideal job. I think you guys should quit. Find something better. Follow your passions!l

One guard at the very front does stop, “Yeah, ya know she has a point.” The others look to one another. Some begin to nod. The one guard continues, “We don’t have to listen to the princess! We should follow our own dreams!”

Hope fills Vicky’s chest. She can’t believe this is actually working, “Y-yeah! Just quit and do something you guys actually want to do! Like maybe becoming an artist, o-or joining a kickboxing club?”

“Or we can go ahead and kill you anyway!”

“Yeah you can-wait no-,”

“Yeah we want to be serial killers,” he says in a nonchalant manner.

“Oh, oh no this backfired greatly.” 

“Ha, It sure did. Alright boys let’s kill her!”

A cheer rises from the crowd as they make their advances. The mood even decides to set in as another clash of thunder fills the sky, and rain begins to poor. So this is it. This is the end. Does Vicky have any regrets? Of course; she never should have watched Riverscale… oh yeah and she should never have started that plan with Liam. All that did was lead her to this point; about to be mauled by a crowd of self employed serial killers clad in armor. 

Just when she thought all was lost a howl is heard from the distance. The guards all stop. All of them, Vicky included, look up at where the howling is coming from. At the top of the building stands a large wolf covered in purple fur. Amber eyes glare at the guards with intense fury. Sitting on top of the wolf is none other than Oz! 

“Oz?!”

“Vicky,” their tone sounds joyful, but it quickly switches to anger, “What the fuck did you get yourself into?!”

The purple wolf leaps down from the building landing in a pretty badass pose if I do say so myself, and I do. Oz is still awkwardly sitting on him though, so they slip off. Vicky instantly goes in for a hug, “Oh thank god you’re here!”

Oz doesn’t hesitate to hug back, “I’m just glad we made it in time!”

“Right, who’s that,” she points to the wolf who is growling toward the guards who are slowly backing away. 

“That’s Liam.”

“What?!”

“Yeah, apparently vampires can turn into wolves. He went on this whole spiel about it. Something about werewolves not feeling special, so that part of vampire lore got muddied over time. I wasn’t really listening.” 

Screams of pain can be heard as wolf Liam begins to tear into the leg of one of the guards. As much as Oz wants to talk more about obscure vampire lore (they really don’t), they need to get Vicky out of here, “Ok look, we’re going to fight these guys off and try to make an opening for you to escape. For now just stay behind us, got it?”

She nods and steps back into the corner of the alleyway. Oz turns to the crowd. Liam has already mauled a whole group who were in the front. They’re now either dead or too injured to keep going. However the vampire did get some stabs and scratches from the guards who are fighting back. It’s a mess seeing the guards all trying to dog pile on, well, the big scary dog before them only to get knocked back by him violently thrashing about. It’s clear that Liam can’t keep up on his own, so Oz steps in. 

They begin to morph into a creature of pure horror. Many of the men freeze in fear at the monster before them. This lets Liam bite down on one of the guard’s torso and flinging him across the alleyway. Some guards at the end are confused at first by the commotion they hear and seeing the body of one of their men flying across the sky, but the second they see a mass of black shadows crawling along the side of the buildings a lot of them take off running. 

From that point forward it’s bloody, gorey, messy chaos. Guts and body parts fling around. Some guards do slip by trying to get to Vicky, but she manages to find a weapon within some plank of wood on the ground. A good whack to the head was enough to knock out the few guards that do get to her. 

The number of guards dwindle down till there’s only like six left. They look at the enraged vampire in wolf form, the eldritch creature overtaking the whole alleyway, and the defensive walking corpse that’s actually good at using a plank as a weapon. They all came to the same conclusion; dealing with Miranda will be better than dealing with these three, and so the fled. 

The trio are still riled up with adrenaline that it takes a while for them to calm down. A puff of smoke catches Oz and Vicky’s attention. They turn to see Liam in his usual form. His clothes are slightly tattered and torn, his hair’s a mess with some noticeable strands coming loose, and there are a plethora of cuts and bruises running along his arms and couple on his face. He’s a mess to say the least but knowing that Vicky is safe makes his terrible appearance worth it. It’s even more worth it when she runs up to give him a crushing bear hug,

“Liam you were awesome out there! All biting and growling. And you can turn into a wolf! That’s so cool! We-we gotta go on some sort of majestic night run!”

“Yeah that’s great now please let go you’re crushing me!”

“Oh, sorry!”

She let’s go and he actually rumples forward a bit the she needs to hold on to him, “Liam are you ok? You did hurt out there.”

“Probably not. Honestly if I still needed my organs I’d probably be dead.” 

Oz comes rushing to his aid as well. With Vicky on one side and Oz on the other they help Liam walk out of the alleyway. The rain has let up a little, but the thunder cease to die down. In fact lighting begins to light up the cloudy sky. 

“Thanks guys, for saving me.”

“Don’t mention it,” Oz answers sounding pretty tired, “I’m surprised we did it to be honest.”

“Did you?!”

They turn around to see one guard standing in the middle of he road. 

They’re not really feeling intimidated despite the guy’s attempt to appear that way. The only reaction he gets is Liam looking as if he’s ready to tear that guy to shreds. 

Oz asks, “Did we what?”

“D-did you do it I mean. Did you save her?”

“...what are you-,”

“Cause we’re here to get the job done!”

“You’re just one guy. Seriously, save yourself the time and go home.”

“No wait,” he whistles and in that moment more guards pop up out of nowhere. They were the ones who ran away from the first fight. 

Liam realizes how exhausted and injured he is seeing that there are now more guards he needs to fight, “Oh for the ever love of god where the fuck do you guys even come from?! 

A crash of lightning nearly hits them, but Liam only continues, “I just wanted to ask her out, but noooooo you guys have to come by and mess everything up!”

Another crash. Vicky and Oz look to one another realizing what’s the cause of the sudden lighting spree coming their way. Vicky is trying to get Liam’s attention but he keeps going, “I can feel my fucking kidney in a place where my kidney shouldn’t be!”

“Liam.”

“It hurt when you stabbed my heart, but jokes on you fuckers, you didn’t use a wooden steak!”

“Liam!”

“What?!”

“I think you should let them take me.”

“Come again?”

“I think you should let them take me to the castle and execute me as you guys step far, far away from them.”

Oz nudges Liam’s arm, “I think she has a point. You are in no condition to keep fighting and I… have some sort of excuse, but we should just let them take her.”

Ok it’s clear by the tone of their voice that they’re up to something. Liam is surprised that the guards haven’t picked it up because they are terrible actors. Hopefully they know what they’re doing. Liam only nods and plays along, “Alright, fine.”

Vicky let’s go of Liam letting him lean against Oz for support. She starts walking toward the guards. However their plan requires luck, and if it doesn’t work then she’s literally throwing herself onto death’s doorstep. So before she can take another step she turns around and gives Liam another hug, “Thank you, for everything you did for me.”

He hugs back, “Vicky what are you planning?”

“Don’t worry, just trust me.” If there’s a chance she’ll never see him again then she’s not leaving without at least giving him a proper goodbye. She leans up to give him a kiss. It doesn’t last long, and it catches Liam off guard that he doesn’t get the chance to kiss back. It’s over in the blink of an eye and next thing you know, Vicky is walking over to the guards,

“Alright guys, take me away!”

Despite knowing that there’s some sort of plan, Liam tries to go get her, but Oz is holding him back, “Let go!”

“No, you’ll get hurt!”

“Those guards can spit holy water on me for all I care!”

“I’m not talking about the guards!”

With Liam weak and tired it doesn’t take much effort for Oz to start dragging him away, “What do you mean? Who else would try to hurt me?”

To answer his question, a bright flash of light followed by a loud clash of thunder hits the ground near them. The feel of an explosion knocks the two monsters to the ground. It all happens so fast that neither of them have fully processed what just happened. 

Moments pass and Oz finally manages to stand up. They bring Liam up with them. Both of their clothes have black marks as if they have been burned, but it’s nothing compared to the marks left on the other guards. Nearly all of them are left lying either dead or unconscious. 

The two scan across the area. Liam turns to Oz, “What the hell just happened?!”

“Vicky is like a living lightning rod. She attracts lightning, so here we are.”

“Oh, oh I see what happened here!”

With Vicky being in close proximity with the the guards the lighting the struck her ended up hitting the others as well. 

“Wait what about Vicky?! Where is she?”

Once again the universe has perfect timing as Vicky herself attacks Liam with another hug from behind, “Holy shit did you guys see that?!”

She let’s go allowing Liam to see her. Other than her hair looking like she could be a disco queen she looks perfectly fine. He brings her back into another hug, “You idiot, I thought you were actually going with them.”

“Nah you know me. I always have some sort of plan in my head.”

Oz leans in, “I don’t want to break up this moment, but I’m tired, cranky as fuck, and we should probably take Liam to the hospital.”

“Yeah, Vicky as much as I don’t want to let go you are hurting me.”

“Sorry, Sorry!” She promptly lets go. Once again Oz and Vicky help keep Liam up and walking by holding on to him on either side. They start making their way to the hospital leaving the mess they made to be someone else’s responsibility. 

After some thinking, Oz asks, “So after all the shit we went through today are we still going to prom.”

Vicky doesn’t hesitate to answer, “Hell yeah! I’ve been looking forward to it for weeks!”

“Liam?”

“I promised Vicky that I will be taking her.”

“As just friends?”

Neither of them answer that. It’s clear that after what happened there’s now more going on with their relationship, but they don’t know where to go from there. But sure enough they’ll figure that out together when the time comes. For now they’re simply enjoying each other’s company as they walk down the street side by side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am not kidding when I say that when it comes to the more original vampire lore they do have the ability to turn into wolves. I think it was a thing that Dracula could do. Obviously this will depend on how you interpret vampires, but I think such an ability is badass so here ya go.


	13. Midnight Rambles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vicky, Liam, and Oz all have a sleepover and they talk. That’s it. I literally can’t describe what else happens other than; they talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was more of some self indulgence. I personally like it whenever characters just sit down and talk. Maybe it’s because I listen to a lot of podcasts, but I find entertaining. Also a small warning; it does get a tiny bit depressing near the end.

Liam was in pretty bad shape by the time Vicky and Oz took him to the hospital. Luckily accelerated healing is on the long list of vampire abilities that Liam has. Because of this as soon as he was bandaged up he was allowed to go home that same night, but it was recommended that he’d have someone watch over him. 

Obviously this was a call for a, “Slumber party,” Vicky shouts the second they all step outside. 

“No.”

“Come on, Liam it’ll be fun! We can watch movies, play video games, oh oh we can even do each other’s makeup and gossip! Except I don’t really like gossiping.” 

“I’m am not going to attend something as mainstream as-,” he would keep going if it wasn’t for the fact that he caught a glimpse of Vicky glaring at him. Right, gotta let down some barriers, “...I-I’m not really used to spending the night at someone’s house.”

“Well it’s just me and Oz, and we don’t bite.”

Oz is off to the side picking out a bit of a guard’s finger that’s stuck to their sharp teeth. Once they take it out they proceed to eat it once again. The two stare at them, and Oz looks back asking, “What?”

“Well I don’t bite. Besides the doctor said you needed someone to look after you.”

“Well I do have my surrogate father who could do that for me.”

Liam gets a message from his phone. It happens to be from said surrogate father,

Rictavio: It appears that I have this sudden and urgent meeting that requires me to be gone for the whole night. I sure do hope you haven’t injured yourself to the point where you require someone to watch over you for this night. That sure would suck! 

“Well shit.”

Vicky is standing on her toes as she peaks over Liam’s shoulder and reads the massage. She’s smiling ear to ear with a spark in her eyes, “Gee, guess you gotta spend the night with us now.”

“No!”

“Pleeaaaaaseeee!”

“No!”

“Pwease,” She gives her best puppy dog eyes she could muster, and god damn it she looks adorable! Curse that cute, round, dorky face of hers! 

Liam looks away to hide his heavy blush only to come face to face with Oz,

“Come on,” they say, “it’s pretty hard to say no to that face,” they lower their voice, “especially when you got a crush on her.”

Liam finds himself squished between his two friends who are both wanting him to spend the night. To be fair he does want to, but there’s the fact that he’ll have to be left alone with Vicky, and then they’ll have to talk about their relationship. Mainly asking the question; what is their relationship? As much as he would greatly avoid that inevitable conversation, he doesn’t really have a choice. Who else can look after him? Not Miranda considering how pissed off he is at her right now. Polly will probably get him drunk and even more hurt, Vera will find a way to exploit his injuries, he barely talks to Scott, and Damien…well it’s Damien. 

He realizes that he’d rather inevitably confront his own emotions than have to deal with his fellow classmates. With a defeated sigh he finally caves in saying, “Alright.”

Vicky cheers as Oz wraps an arm around both of their friends’ shoulders, “Great, because somebody still owes me a movie night,” they say as they glance over at Vicky.

“And that’s a promise I still plan on keeping!” 

They continue to taunt each other on their walk back to the apartment. Vicky feels immense joy knowing that Oz is no longer mad at her. Maybe it’s the fact that they nearly had their best friend die made Oz realize that they don’t want to live a life without Vicky around to make it interesting. At the same time, Vicky learned that Oz is special to her, so she should never throw them to the side ever again. 

This warm inviting aura travels over to Liam. While those two have been chatting, he’s been silent while listening to their conversation. It’s not often he feels this way, but these are a couple of monsters he feels comfortable and, dare he say, happy to be around. Oz he’s known for years and while Vicky may be a new person in his life, he knows he would never want to get rid of her. 

We are just getting these happy and chill vibes from this trio of monsters. It’s almost like they never fought off an entire army that tried to murder one of them. Pfft, army, what army? We just have some good friends off to have a slumber party! Was I sleep deprived while writing these paragraphs?... Yeah, but who gives a fuck? We have nothing by good vibes from here on out!   
_______

The trio do end up having a movie marathon. Vicky prepared a lot of snacks, that could feed a whole school, just for herself because she’s the only one who can actually eat food. Liam has reluctantly borrowed some of Oz’s clothes. He’s now wearing a yellow t-shirt the reveal his bandaged up arms and grey sweatpants. Despite him complaining about the lack of style he will admit that the clothes are at least comfortable. 

With heavy blankets, pillows, and comfy pajamas, the three finally settle in for one hell of a horror movie marathon. However they actually end up watching some of the worst horror movies out there. They poke fun of the shitty cgi and the terrible dialogues that only some random guy off the street could have written rather than a professional. 

They even go in with watching the Purge series. According to some monsters it’s based on a human culture where they only dedicate one day in the entire year to making everything legal when really, with how the monster society is, that might as well be a thing everyday. Some do say that the movie is entirely fiction with no connection to real life human traditions. Nobody really knows or cares enough to look into that rumor. 

With Liam there of course he ends up asking a lot of questions about the world within the series. That leads to all three having to pause the movie while discussing just how the world within The Purge would work. They eventually come to the conclusion that it’s a dumb movie and move on to something else. 

They move on to do other stuff for fun like figure out to make some high class dish off of a recipe from the Internet only to learn that none of them can cook, and they nearly catch the kitchen on fire. They tried to play truth or dare, but when Oz teasingly dared Vicky to kiss the person on her right, surprise surprise, it was Liam, the other two immediately stopped the game right then and there. Finally, Vicky brought up the idea of karaoke that was quickly shut down by both Oz and Liam who are way too shy to even think of singing in front of other monsters. 

Now they’re back on the couch simply chatting the night away. Out of curiosity, Liam asked who else lives in this apartment. Vicky is quick to answer, “Well there’s Amira who acts like she’s in charge of this place. She made these silly rules like how we need to eat together like a family, or have bonding days. I think she gets it from the fact that she’s the oldest out of her sisters.”

“Isn’t she the one who’s in a ‘business’ relationship with Vera? She says what they have is only professional, but I can see right through her bullshit.”

“Ah yes cause you’re practically a walking bullshit detector. But yeah that’s the one. I’m not surprised she’s dating Vera of all monsters. Oh wait, I mean I’m not surprised she started working for Vera…I guess.” 

They snicker a little knowing full well that their friends are terrible at keeping their relationship under wraps. Oz goes back to the initial question, “We also have Brian. He’s that zombie with the big green jacket.”

“I don’t believe I’ve seen him around school.”

“That’s because he straight up disappeared recently. We would be worried but he does that all the time. Normally it means he’s doing some sort of wacky adventure on his own. The thing is that despite being really chill, he has friends like Polly and Miranda that get him into these insane adventures, and he just rolls with it...he’s also a fucking furry.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, well he never said that he is, but he had a huge crush on Valerie before moving on to Scott. I’m just saying that it can’t be a coincidence that he fell for the two more animal like monsters in this school.”

“Huh, it’s always the ones you least expect isn’t it?”

“Guyyyyysss, I told you I don’t like gossiping,” Vicky groans as she sinks deeper into the couch. 

Oz chuckles and rolls their eyes, “Well I wouldn’t say I’m gossiping. I’m just spreading arguably negative information about a close friend that may or may not be tr-no yeah now that I say it out loud I am gossiping.” 

Vicky pouts at them, and unfortunately for Liam he’s sitting right next to her allowing him to get a good view of one of the many adorable faces Vicky can make. He avoids eye contact but looking down at the blanket covering his lap. A poke on the cheek causes him to jump a little. Oz chuckles at his reaction, “What’s with the blushing face?”

“I-I am not blushing!”

“...Really?” 

“Yeah Liam, you’re face might as well be swapped with Damien’s.”

They continue to tease him, which leads to Liam blushing more from embarrassment. They eventually move on to talk about other random things that pop into their minds. It does get very late, and Oz gets up from the couch, “Alright guys I’m heading to bed. I have some nightmares to feed off of.” 

They saunter off to their room leaving Liam and Vicky alone. Normally they will pick off where they left off on the conversation, but this time they stay quiet. It’s clear that they’re both thinking about the same thing, which is the kiss. They do need to talk about it eventually, but as usual they’re rather put that conversation off as long as they can. Instead Vicky looks down the hall where Oz walked off to. Curiosity fills her, “You and Oz seem pretty friendly.”

“Hm?”

“It’s just kind of weird cause you were pretty standoffish with me, but with Oz it seems like you guys are already friends.”

“Oh, well I guess you can make the assumption that we’re already friends. We have been for years.”

“What?! I’ve known Oz since I was a kid! How come I never met you before?!”

“I don’t know. I’d assume fate simply didn’t let us meet until recently, but I don’t believe in fate. Really it must be because Oz and I mainly went of silly adventures that normally took place out of town. We’d travel to nearby cities and follow the river of life and see where that would take us.”

“Dang, that sounded poetic as hell!”

“Why thank you.”

“I guess that explains why they would disappear a lot when I was a teenager...so if you’re good friends with Oz then how come you never brought them up before?” 

“Well things are a bit...weird between us? It’s kind of a long story.”

Vicky scoots closer and rests her hands on her chin. Her face practically screams, ‘tell me more!’ Liam can’t help but find the small action kind of amusing. He smirks, but it only lasts a second, “Alright well like I said we spent a lot of time together. Back then I was...well I was really depressed for reasons that I don’t want to get into. At the same time, Oz was still fairly new to this dimension. There were things they still didn’t understand, so I would distract myself from my negative thoughts by helping them learn about the world. It was like I was passing down 400 years of wisdom onto them.” 

“Daw, kind of like a teacher, student sort of thing?”

“Not really. It started out that way, but over time we would simply hang out just for fun. Eventually the whole idea of romance came into the picture. Mainly because Oz wondered what it was like to be in love.”

“Oh I remember that! We were watching a romance movie together and they started asking me a lot of questions about it.”

“Yes well I tried helping by giving them my own advice despite all of my past relationships not ending so well. However sometimes I worry the I ended up leading them on because soon after they developed a crush on me.”

“Oh dang, did you like them back?”

“Not really, no. I never saw them as anything other than a friend, so when they did end up confessing to me I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to break their heart cause if anyone knows how terrible that feels, it’s me. I panicked and told them I had to go home. That same night I did what I always do, and I ran away. I stole a car, and I drove off. I kept driving till I came to this city and started off fresh here.”

“Wait, you went out of you way to move to another city?”

“Thank you for making my decision sound more terrible than how I thought it sounded.”

“Sorry but wasn’t that a bit extreme?”

“Thinking back on it, yes but to be fair it was more complicated than how I make it out to be. Oz saying they loved me mixed with all the adventures we had reminded me of someone a lost, and I didn’t want those memories to overtake me again. So that’s why I thought starting over would be good for me. Now I know that that decision was impulsive, dumb, and selfish because as much as I didn’t want to, I did end up breaking Oz’s heart.” 

“Well yeah. How would you feel if you confess to someone only to have that person disappear the next day?”

“You’re not pulling any punches are you?”

“Sorry, sorry. I get it, what happened was complicated and all, but still what you did to them was kind of shitty.”

“I’m well aware of that, thank you for clarifying!”

“Well you’re welcome! Now keep going.”

“Right well for two years we haven’t spoken to each other. In that time I enrolled into Spooky High, joined The Coven, went on more adventures, realized that those adventures only distracted me from my problems without actually fixing them, left The Coven, learned that no matter what I do I’ll forever be stuck as this broken mess of a monster who will live on for the rest of eternity with these centuries worth of burdens weighing down on me...and I learned how to sew, so that was nice. As you know, Oz came here too and we happened to meet again. At first things were very tense. To say that they were infuriated with me was an understatement.”

“Oh yeah, I can see that.”

“But things eventually calmed down, and we started talking again.”

“Well, glad to know that at least this story has a more or less happy ending.”

“Well, yeah. It’s better than how a lot of my stories end.”

Vicky doesn’t really know how to respond to that. Eventually she just says, “Thanks.”

“For what?”

“For telling me all of that. I get that it’s hard for you to be so open, so I’m glad that you trust me enough.”

Daw, that was sweet of her to say. Liam didn’t even realize that he was comfortable with telling her so much about himself, and she was very understanding about it too. Maybe he’ll say something nice back, “No...I just got used to you being such a twat.”

“Annnnnd we’re back to square one.” 

“...I’m sorry.”

“No it’s fine. I just, care a lot about you, so it’s nice knowing that you feel the same way too, maybe?”

“Are you trying to allude to something else?”

“Maaaayyyyybeeeee.” 

“Is it about that kiss?”

“Well yeah and how you said you planned on asking me out today.”

Neither of them seem to be able to look at each other instead finding the ground a lot more interesting spot to look at. Liam is quick to find some sort of excuse for what he said back there, “Well that was just me spouting random stuff cause I was angry.”

“And when I kissed you?”

“Well that was...an accident?”

“So you just want to pretend that there’s nothing going on between us?” Liam can hear the sadnesses in those words as she said them. He turns around to find Vicky looking back at him. Her face is mainly confused and upset. It’s clear that neither of them know what to do. They both like each other, they know they like each other, so what’s really stopping them? 

They’re already sitting close to one another. Liam has his knees pressed up against his chest while Vicky has the blanket wrapped around her. They look small and fragile. Hesitantly, Vicky leans over to rest her head on Liam’s shoulder. The action causes him to tense a little, but he doesn’t move her away. Instead he finally answers her question, “I don’t want to pretend that there’s nothing going on, I’m just afraid. I’ve lost so many people because of the terrible choices I’ve made. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you cared so much about me.”

“Well...I do. I was worried when I saw you getting chased down by an entire damn army. You do a lot of reckless and impulsive things, and sometimes I think that it’ll end up being your downfall. What if something like that happens to you in the future, and you don’t get so lucky? I don’t want to hate myself over losing someone again.” 

“Liam-,”

“It’s happened before, Vicky. Sometimes I feel like I’m bad luck or that I’m some sort of sinkhole that people get sucked in. I think that if I was never a part of their lives all the people I got involved with would be happier...or alive,” he stops knowing he needs a second to breathe, “That’s why I’m afraid of starting anything with you. I know that I planned on asking you out today, but seeing you in danger reminded me of all the other times I’ve put my loved ones in danger just by existing. So maybe it’s best if we don’t even bother.”

Vicky doesn’t know how to respond right away. For a moment she does believe him. Maybe starting a relationship with Liam will only end in heartbreak in the future. But that thought quickly went away. There’s no way she can accept that! Just because it’s happened before doesn’t mean it’ll happen again. She takes his hands and holds them tight, and she tilts his head so that he’s facing her, 

“Liam, we don’t know what’s going to happen. We don’t have some sort of power that can predict the future, so why waste time worrying about something that may never happen. What’s important is now. How we feel right now is all that matters, and right now I want to go out with you. I know you feel the same way, so why let the unknown try to stop you?” 

Now it’s Liam’s turn to go quiet. He knows that she’s right, but there’s still this nagging voice in his head telling him otherwise. He notice that Vicky’s hands are trembling, “You’re shaking.”

“Yeah well I just told the guy I like that I want to date him, and that takes some boldness I don’t have.”

He chuckles at her statement. One of those rare moments of genuine laughter from the vampire that only Vicky gets the privilege of hearing more often than others. And that’s something Liam has noticed. Vicky makes him happy. It’s rare for him to feel happy and comfortable around another monster, but Vicky is easily able to break down his walls in just a few weeks. When he’s around her he doesn’t feel the need to pretend to be someone else, and that’s refreshing. Is this something he really wants to throw away so easily?

“Alright.”

“Huh?”

“Alright, we can give this relationship a chance.”

“Wait, r-really?”

“Well, while a part of me still thinks this will only lead to bad things, I’m still holding out fora bit of hope.”

Vicky goes in to rest her forehead on Liam’s chest. An action he’ll have to get used to. She does this to cover her blushing mess of a face, “That was cheesy.”

“Good, it’s nice to unapologetically say something cheesy and cliche for once.” 

She smiles and pulls him into a hug that he greatly returns. They stay like this for a while. It’s comforting having them hold each other near and dear. They could fall asleep in each other’s arms if Amira hadn’t burst into the room, 

“Yo I think I finally figured out where Brian is!”

Liam and Vicky immediately untangle themselves out of panic, but it was too late cause Amira saw what was going on before, “Oh shit. Sorry, didn’t mean to break up...whatever was going on.” She crosses over to the other side of the living room over to the hallway that leads to her bedroom, “So like, have you two been dating orrrrrr,”

“Oh my god, Amira just leave us alone!”

“Sorry Vic, alright I’ll see ya tomorrow- Wait Liam you looked fucked up. What happened?” She points to his bandaged arms. 

“Just go!”

“Right right, night! See you two at prom!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yaaaaaaay, Vicky and Liam are finally together, Oz is no longer mad at Vicky, and Amira knows where Brian is! Things might go to shit again, but let’s charish this moment while we have the chance.


	14. Prom Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vicky and Liam go to prom together, and they have a wonderful night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jesus, where have I been? Tired and unmotivated, that’s where! So sorry that it took so long to get this chapter up, but here it is, The finally to All According to Plan!

A lot has happened in this past three weeks. What started as yet another plan to win over Polly ended with something completely different. Vicky never thought that out of all of her classmates she’d end up going to prom with Liam. And yet here she is; standing in front of her mirror looking at her dress while thinking back to the events that led up to this point. She smiles at her reflection. Despite all of the chaos she can definitely say it was all worth it. 

There’s a loud knock on her door followed by, “Vicky! Get out here, I don’t want to keep our dates waiting! Especially since mine might burn the building down if we don’t meet them soon!”

“Hold your horses, I’m coming!” 

Vicky does one last check making sure nothing seems out of place. She finally managed to tame her hair at least, sort of. Feeling satisfied, she walks to the door and opens it. 

On the other side stands Oz looking impatient as always. The only difference is their tuxedo. It’s a bright yellow like all of their clothes, and as always the color suits them. Still, seeing Oz all dressed up cause Vicky to grow a big goofy grin. 

Oz tilts their head, confused as to why Vicky has that look on her face, “What?”

“Oh nothing. I just can’t believe that lil’ Oz is actually going to prom with a daaaaaate!”

“Not this again.”

“And you’ve been saying that you’ll never fall in love.”

“I’m not in love! I just like Damien so much to the point where the word ‘like’ won’t cut it.”

Vicky only smirks in response, which causes Oz to blush harder, “Stop looking at me like that!” 

She saunters up to give them a hug, “I’m just happy for you.”

Oz wish they could say something to tease her back, but it’s been a good while since they had a moment alonne like this. They hug her back, “I’m sorry. I should have known you’ve gotten yourself in a big mess.”

“No don’t apologize. I did it to myself. Besides, we finally got ourselves dates to prom.” 

Said dates have been waiting outside the apartment for nearly half an hour. Damien grew impatient and sent a text to Oz saying he’ll burn this place down if they don’t hurry up.

“Wow, burning down your date’s apartment in prom night? How romantic.” 

Damien turns seeing Liam standing right behind him, “Why the fuck are you reading my texts you nosy freak?!”

“Oh I merely find them mildly entertaining. Now, will you also be burning another one of their possessions down before or after you two make love?”

Damien takes a swing at him, but Liam swiftly dodges. He knows he shouldn’t poke fun at the demon considering the vampire still hasn’t fully recovered from his injuries. Luckily his suit covers up his bandaged arms, minus the hands. Still, despite no longer having feelings for the demon, teasing the shit out of him is still, and forever will be, Liam’s favorite hobby.

The front door of the lobby opens revealing their prom dates. Both men are rendered themselves speechless. Damien freezes just before his fist makes contact with Liam’s face. 

Oz and Vicky stand there both looking excited before that look changes to worry at the situation they see before them. Oz sights and shakes their head, “We leave you guys alone for thirty minutes, and you’re already about to kill each other.”

Damien immediately let’s go of Liam’s collar and steps back, “Pfff no!... but if I was going to kill him it would be because he deserved it for being a nosy fuckstick!”

Liam scoffs, “All I did was read your message.”

“And you watched Oz ask me out like a fucking perv! Or did I ask them out? Did we ask each other out?”

Oz walks over to Damien. They stand in between him and Liam just so they don’t get into another argument with each other, “Damien, you can let out your never ending pent up anger after prom. All of us here have had a crazy few weeks. Let’s just have at least one normal night.”

Now if it was anyone else, Damien would have responded with a, ‘fuck you,’ and a punch to the gut, and him going back to kill Liam, though not really. Punching him a bit sounds more realistic. However this is Oz. Damien is trying really hard not to upset them, so he backs off. Oz is greatful when they see the demon calm down, “Thanks. Now let’s get this night over with. I know for a fact I’ll be wanting to go home the second we get there.”

Oz makes their way to Damien’s bike with the demon following close behind. That leaves Vicky and Liam alone together. They haven’t spoken to one another since last night when they confessed their feelings. Liam left once Amira went to her room feeling too awkward to spend any more alone time with Vicky. 

Now they’re together once again, and they have no idea what to say to each other. It’s an awkward moment where the two are spent looking anywhere except towards one another. Finally, Vicky looks up and asks, “So are you ready?”

“Do you want me to be honest?”

“Always.”

“Well, I’m terrified. The second I got home I spent the rest of the night dreading over the thought of accepting the crown.” 

Vicky takes Liam’s hands and give him a reassuring look, “You’ll be fine. No one will make fun of you, and no one will boo at you. Well except maybe Polly, but that’s normally a good thing.”

“I don’t think a quick pep talk will ease my nerves. Even when it’s you who’s voicing it.”

“Hmmm,” Vicky looks down trying to think of a way to help Liam before looking up once again, “I’ll go up there with you! Maybe you feel as bad having a friend with you...wait, I mean date...girlfriend??”

Liam immediately tenses and blushes furiously when he hears that last word. His face immediately goes from looking slightly calmer to a wave of panic once again. It’s like the idea of being in a relationship again scares him, and considering the conversation they had last night that’s basically the case. 

Vicky steps back also feeling panicked, “N-no no never mind! We can talk about that later! Let’s just enjoy this night. Don’t think about being prom king, or all of the monsters, or even what the hell our relationship is! Just think about you, me, and Oz all together having a good time.” 

“HEY FUCKBIRDS! HURRY THE HELL UP!”

“And Damien. Damien is there too.” 

Liam looks over to his friend and the ever vulgar demon waiting on his bike. He sighs in annoyance, “Fine, but there’s no way that we’re riding with him. Besides I have no idea how we’re all going to fit on that one bike.”

Vicky smiles brightly glad that Liam is on board, “Yay! I promise that this will be a good night for the both of us! But, uh, how are we going there, and don’t say walking cause these heels are already killing me.” 

Without another word Liam steps back, and a puff of smoke hides him from the others. Once it disappears the purple wolf is back. Not being able to speak he leans down and bows his head. 

Vicky immediately knows what he wants her to do and squeals. She immediately gets on his back, and once she settles herself she shouts in a triumphant voice, “Vicky Schmidt is here to have the night of her fucking life! Woooooo!” 

Wolf Liam rolls his eyes, but there’s a smile there. At least as much of a smile as wolves can do. He walks slowly waiting for Vicky to get a good grip on his fur. Once she does he breaks into a full sprint towards the school. 

Oz and Damien watched the whole ordeal with the latter not being able to look away, “Did Liam just-,”

“Turn into a wolf? Yeah vampires can do that apparently.”

The look of shock turns into a wicked grin as an idea comes to the demon’s mind. Oz knows exactly what their boyfriend is thinking, “Please don’t try to race him.”

The revving of the engine pretty much tells Oz that Damien is going to do it anyway. They hold on to him as he goes full speed to the school. Together, all four monsters are off to a have a night to remember.   
___________

Liam stops right in front of the gym’s entrance unlike Damien who crashes through the wall. A couple of cries and screams could be heard from inside. Amira even shouts, “what the fuck,” when she sees that it’s her two buddies that crashed in. Obviously both Oz and Damien are fine, but that didn’t stop the demon prince from continuously apologizing, which is really odd for him to do.

“Damien, I’m fine!”

“You sure? And you’re not mad?”

“No I’m not. That was actually pretty fun.”

“Alright, good,” He faces the crowd, “Move out of the way assholes! Damien Lavey is here to make this night our bitch!”

Half of the crowd cheers while the other half are still running around in a chaotic mess because holy shit, somebody crashed through the wall!

Who cares though? Surely not the DJ who’s currently amping the volume up! The ones who are not freaking out start dancing once again. Damien goes in showing off his moves. Of course by that I mean he’s challenging anyone he sees to a dance battle. 

Oz is ready to join in, but before they could they were interrupted by a tap on their shoulder. They turn expecting it to be Vicky or Liam, but they’re surprised to see it’s, “Brian!”

“Hey,” he says nonchalantly as if he hasn’t been gone for three weeks. 

“Where’ve you been? So much has happened while you were gone!”

“It’s a long story. Basically, Scott found some furries in the woods, and he’s their king now. I’ve been helping him rule his kingdom. He’s there now, so if you’re wondering where he went, there’s your answer.” 

“...Oh?”

“Oh, and we’re dating now, so that’s cool.”

“Oh! Good for you man!” 

They almost go in to hug him, but knowing that he’s not all that comfortable with physical contact they just gently punch his arm instead. 

The two chat for a little bit sharing stories of what exactly they’ve been doing these past few weeks. Oz eventually brings up the small falling out they had with Vicky recently. Out of instinct, Brian puts an arm around Oz and pats their shoulder. An act he normally does to comfort any of his friends. However such action may not come off as just friendly to a certain demon.   
________

Liam could only roll his eyes when he sees Damien crash into the gym. He knows that they’re both fine. Besides he has bigger things to worry about other than his friends’ safety and well being. Like how his reputation will dwindle as he steps up to the stage to receive his crown only to be covered in pig's blood. He wouldn’t mind if it was human’s blood. That’s pretty tasty. 

Him and Vicky stand at the entrance. She takes his hand and smiles up at him, “let’s have some fun tonight.” He smiles back letting some of the pressure slip away as the two enter the building. 

To Liam’s surprise, he actually started to enjoy himself. Vicky of course insisted that they dance together. At first, Liam seemed a bit put off by the idea, but she insisted. By insisted, I mean she immediately pulled him to the dance floor the second they walked in. Her hands do not once let go of his, and he found the contact very comforting. After a couple of songs have passed, Liam had shed whatever anxious feeling has been invading his mind. For once, he’s going to ignore the thoughts in his head that tell him that he’s just embarrassing himself. All that matters right now is whether or not he’s enjoying himself, and seeing Vicky dance to her heart's content, and with her confidence shining through, he can’t help but smile. 

When the two grow tired, they wander over to a small table. They easily fall into a small conversation that started with Liam complimenting the music, “I’m glad that they didn’t play any of the more mainstream and popular songs.” 

The word, “mainstream,” is quickly becoming one of Vicky’s least favorite word as she throws a small glare towards the vampire. The action causes Liam to quickly follow up with, “I’m being honest this time, I swear! I genuinely think that a lot of the more popular songs that are played nowadays are absolute garbage.”

“Seriously?! What about Taylor Swamp?”

“Do you really like her music?”

“Well...no, but a lot of people do.”

“Those people must not have any taste then.”

“Pfft, and you do? What makes you think your taste in music would be any better?”

“Believe it or not, but I actually have experience within the music industry.”

As soon as those words left his mouth, Vicky gets up, picks her chair up, and moves it so that she’s sitting right next to him. She sits down and rests her elbows on the table with her hands resting below her chin. Her eyes are filled with curiosity and wonder when she says, “Tell me more.” 

Soon enough, Liam starts talking about his time being a part of a Kpop group. At first he brags about how he was considered the best within the entire group. They all loved him, they would always put him in lead vocals, he would choreograph the dances. Clearly he was the best in that generation, but the second kpop started to become more popular, he left not wanting to be a part of such a mainstream band. When the story ended, Vicky had a skeptical look on his face. She clearly didn’t buy anything that she heard. Liam sighs, “Ok fine. To be honest I partly told that lie simply because I found your angry face adorable. Anyway, I was never an official member of the group. I simply wrote the music. None of the members really cared about me. They mainly just used me for the music...Thinking back on it, it was less of a kpop group and more of a simple band. Eventually I left because I grew tired of their mistreatment. I did actually choreograph a lot of their dances though. That part was true at least.” 

“Oh, I’m really sorry to hear that.”

“It wasn’t as bad as you think. I genuinely had a lot of good times.”

“Hey, what if we started a band?!”

“No, I’m done with music.” 

“Well try saying that again when you come to my sold out concert where I have millions of fans.”

“Wow, you haven’t even started your band and yet the fame is already going to your head.” 

“Hey!” She tosses some of the confetti that littered the table over to Liam. The act causes Liam to flinch slightly, but the only damage that was done was to his tux, “Dang,’ Vicky says, “I only made your outfit cuter.” 

“Just my clothes? What about me?”

“Oh hush, you always look cute.” 

The two immediately look away and blush. Their awkward moment of flirty banter is quickly disrupted when Miranda takes the microphone from whatever wannabe band had it, “Greetings everyone! I sure do hope you are all enjoying yourselves.” Everyone cheers as a response, but Miranda doesn’t take it in kind, “How rude! I did not say you could all cheer yet! You are all lucky that I don’t have my guards here. They all tragically died yesterday by some giant lighting. On a similar note, trials are being held for new guards. So far everyone who signed up failed and were later executed for their-,”

Her mic gets taken by Vera, “We’re announcing prom queen and king.” 

Once again the crowd cheers. As Vera opens the envelope she mumbles, “Ugh, of course you imbeciles would care about something as silly and childish as a prom queen. Such a title only belongs to some idiotic fairy princesses who-,” she stops to read the name for prom queen and is met with surprise, “Oh, I won... I actually won. Amira, call off the assassins, I won!”

A mix of claps, cheers, and worry at the fact that there’s an assassin in the building brings the crowd back to a chattering chaos. Miranda takes the mic back since Vera is distracted with crowning herself, and calls for everyone’s attention once again, “We will now see who our prom king shall be! Now, I’ll begin by opening the envelope very slowly in order to create suspense.” Everyone knew they were going to be there for a while when five minutes have passed. Meanwhile, Liam is only growing more nervous as the time passes. His palms are sweating through the bandages. Can vampires sweat? His foot is tapping the floor in an unsteady beat. 

Vicky takes his hands, “Liam, you’ll be- ew, you’re sweaty- Liam, you’ll be fine. We’ll go up there together, and you will take the crown that you deserve!” Liam can’t help but smile at her comment, but as soon as she stops talking she slips her hands away from his, “Seriously though, might wanna dry your hands at least.” He immediately goes back to his usual scowl, but he does take a napkin from the table. 

Ten minutes have passed, and the students are starting to grow impatient. One of them yells, “Get on with it!” Miranda puffs her cheeks in anger, but she sighs and throws the envelope, “Ok fine. It’s Liam de Lioncourt! He won by a landslide! Oh my, who could have guessed?! Surely not me, for I definitely had no hand in his success.” The crowd cheers as a spotlight, don’t know where that came from, shined on the vampire. With all eyes on him Liam, he tenses up. The walls of monsters surrounding him feels suffocating. Maybe it’s not too late to run away. However a hand on his back prevents him from doing so. “Come on, Liam. You got this.” Vicky gently shoves him towards the stage where Miranda is holding his crown. A big smile is on the princess’s face when the vampire finally makes it up there. Despite him still being mad at her, the cheerful smile and kind eyes can let him forget the fact that she technically tried to kill Vicky. Only for this moment. They’ll going to have a talk later, but for now he simply accepts the crown. As soon as it’s on his head the crowd erupt in a tremendous shout as monsters clap and cheer with genuine joy. It surprises Liam that they all seem glad. It wouldn’t surprise him if Miranda paid them all to pretend to be happy for him. However, as if they were small stars within the galaxy, he could see some of his friends amongst the students. Oz and Brian are in the back clapping and cheering, Amira gave a whistle,Vera stopped admiring her crown for a second to give him a smile, and even Damien, who was in the middle of the dance floor, shouted, “Congrats ya noob!” 

Polly floats up from the crowds and yells, “Yooooo, congratulations boo!” She chucks a bouquet of flowers over to Liam who caught it. If Liam hadn’t felt overwhelmed before, then he sure as hell does now. But it’s not exactly a bad feeling. For the first time since he attended this school it actually feels like his circle of friends seem to care about him. They all seem genuinely happy that he won. For years he’s always had doubts. That maybe his friends don’t actually like him. That they spend time with him out of pity. However right now, in this moment, all of those doubts have washed away as a big, goofy smile is plastered on his face, and...is he crying? Shit, he’s crying. They’re tears of joy of course, no need to worry. 

Vicky can’t hold back her joy as she rushes up the stage to give him a bear hug. He instantly returns it not really caring how anyone else would react. She let’s go but only so she can lean up to kiss him. Only then does the crowd react. Some of their friends who didn’t know about their relationship were shocked while others only shrug knowing full well that they were going to end up together eventually. Vicky pulls away she giggles at how red Liam’s face is. Their little moment is interrupted when Miranda walks over, “Vicky! I’m glad you’re alive...sort of. Anyway Liam dear, would you like to make a speech?”

“Huh,” Liam questions, “but Vera didn’t give a speech.”

“Yes she did. She called off her assassins. I’m sure that counts.”

“Well I don’t really want to-.”

“Come on, there’s nothing wrong with giving a speech.”

“Seriously Miranda, I would prefer if I didn’t”

“Just a few words.”

“No.”

“HEY!”

Everyone falls silent when they turn to the direction of shout. Damien angrily storms over to Brian and Oz, “GET YOUR ARM OFF MY MONSTER!”

Brian rolls his eyes but does as he’s told, but Damien doesn’t seem satisfied, “Do you really think you could just swoop in and take Oz while I wasn’t looking?”

Oz steps in between the two, “Damien wait! Please don’t hurt him. He was just being n-,”

“I challenge you to a dance off!”

Both Brian and Oz glance over at each other and back at the demon. “Excuse me,” Brian questions. 

“You heard me! If you really think you’re so good for Oz then prove it by beating me in a dance battle!”

“...Dude no. Besides I already have a boyfrie-,”

However the music begins as Damien starts breakdancing surprisingly well. Oz isn’t sure if they want to laugh at the situation or run away in embarrassment. In the end they simply shrug and cheer as Damien does a head spin. They had crazier moments with their demon boyfriend. This is pretty tame by comparison. When it’s Brian’s turn though he just walks away. “Maybe it’s not too late to go back to the furry kingdom,” he mutters as he leaves. 

___________

While all of that was happening, Vicky and Liam took it as a chance to sneak out of the building. They’re sitting in the parking lot and leaning against some stranger’s car. Vicky somehow managed to sneak the entire punch bowl out too. Liam can’t drink any of it though. Oh well, more for her. She takes a sip from the bowl careful not to spill any on her dress. For a while they quietly look up at the stars. 

“Even after 400 years, I can never get tired of star gazing.”

“Daw, are we having another sentimental moment?”

He rolls his eyes and chuckles, “I thought you wanted me to be more open.”

“I do! No sorry, keep going.”

“That’s it. I just love star gazing.”

“Oh.”

After a beat, Vicky says, “I’m proud of you. You went up there in front of everyone and you didn’t freak out.” 

“Internally I wanted to die again, but in the end it wasn’t too bad. Oddly enough going up there helped me learn that not everyone in the world is out to get me. I used to think that all of my friends secretly hated me. That none of them actually wanted me around, but after that moment I learned that such a thought is far from the truth.”

“Well of course we don’t hate you! That’s just your nasty anxiety trying to get to you.” 

“I know it is, but sometimes it works.”

“Liam,” she shifts so that she’s sitting right in front of him, “I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. Even if everyone suddenly does become your enemy I will, and always will be, right by your side. Because I really do love you. Both as a friend and as something more than that.”

Liam smiles at her sentiment, “And I...I love you two. Both as a friend and more.”

They chuckle knowing how silly and awkward they sound when saying that. Vicky regains her composer, “Sorry, was that too cliche?”

Liam shrugs, “Who cares?” 

Again they laugh and next thing you know, Vicky and Liam are side by side again. They’re cuddling as they look at the stars. Minutes fly by before Liam speaks up, “Vicky, do you really to stay with me?”

“Of course.”

“Do you promise?” He holds out his pinky, and Vicky raises an eyebrow at that. “I thought you said that pinky promises were too childish.”

“What can I say? A lot of your quirks tend to rub of on me.”

She smiles when she looks down at his hand. Her eyes trail up to meet Liam’s. With a wide smile, she locks his pinky with her own.

“It’s a deal,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for sticking around and reading this mess that I have created. All of your kind words have kept me motivated for so long. I hope to write more, though they’re most likely just going to be one-shots more than anything. Seriously though, thank you all and also happy Thanksgiving.


End file.
